Author Description

Systematic, thorough, and informative, this volume offers a very welcome contribution to the field of local government studies and, more generally, public administration. The authors show how apparently mundane organisational choices of service provision may raise fundamental questions of democratic accountability. Thus, this volume provides a solid platform for numerous future research projects about the role of corporations in public governance. - Jacob Aars, Professor, Department of Government, University of Bergen "Municipally owned corporations are the invisible entities that shape our local public services. This insightful analysis draws on rich empirical material to provide a much-needed comparative picture of corporatisation in local government across 19 countries. An essential book for students of public management." - Steven Van de Walle, Professor, Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven This book provides a comprehensive comparison of municipal corporatisation in nineteen countries belonging to five different administrative traditions. Municipal corporatisation is the act of delivering public services at arm's length from local government through municipally owned corporations. Although it has become an increasing trend in recent years, we still know little about cross-country differences in what these municipally owned corporations look like, what legislation applies to them, and how they are governed. This book seeks to fill this gap. Going beyond the national context, the book provides an overview of what unites countries in terms of municipally owned corporations, and what differentiates them. It offers a critical comparison that will make finding regional and global trends easier for researchers, and will help practitioners to better understand the differences and similarities between countries to allow for greater collaborative policy learning. Rhys Andrews is Professor of Public Management at Cardiff University, UK. Marieke van Genugten is Assistan