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Tutkimuksen aiheena on kunta ja sen muutos. Tutkin sitä, minkälaisena kunta näyttäytyy sen tehtäväkenttää voimakkaasti rajaavan hallinnonuudistuksen kontekstissa, ja minkälaisia vaikutuksia tällaisella hallinnonuudistuksella on kuntiin. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on lisätä ymmärrystä siitä, miten moniulotteisesta ja laajavaikutteisesta muutoksesta kunnan tehtäviä vähentävässä hallinnonuudistuksessa on kyse. Teen näkyväksi sen, minkälaisia merkityksiä kunnalle annetaan, minkälaisia laajempia yhteiskunnallisia vaikutuksia kuntamuutokseen liittyy, ja mistä kuntamuutoksessa itse asiassa on kyse. Tarkastelen kuntaa alati muuttuvana sosiaalisena konstruktiona. Fenomenologisen tutkimusotteen avulla teen näkyväksi kuntajohdon haastatteluista koostuvaa aineistoa analysoimalla, mistä puhumme, kun puhumme kunnasta. Tällä tavoin rekonstruoin kuntakäsitteen. Tutkimuksen käsitteellisinä lähtökohtina ovat kuntakäsitteen ulottuvuudet, hallinnonuudistusten sivuvaikutukset ja kunnan onttoutuminen analogiana valtion onttoutumisesta. Tutkin aihetta empiirisesti tapausesimerkin avulla, Kainuun hallintokokeilua tarkastelemalla. Kuntaan kohdistuvia vaikutuksia ovat haastatteluaineistoni analyysin perusteella organisatoris-toiminnalliset, johtamiseen liittyvät ja kuntakäsitysten muutokset. Muutospuhuntaa värittää läpileikkaavasti ristiriitaisuus. Grounded theory -menetelmää soveltaen olen muodostanut empirialähtöisen teorian kunnasta. Olen määritellyt neljä kunnan olemusta kuvaavaa perustehtävää: demokratiatehtävä, taloustehtävä, yhteisötehtävä ja hyvinvointitehtävä. Näitä tehtäviä yhdistää, niistä ammentaa ja niitä samanaikaisesti ruokkii määrittelemäni kunnan ydintehtävä, raison d´être, jonka mukaisesti kunta on elämisen edellytyksiä luova itsehallinnollinen paikallisyhteisö. Perustehtävät painottuvat eri tavoin eri kunnissa ja niiden painotukset vaihtelevat eri aikoina myös yksittäisen kunnan sisällä. Kunta voi siis olla kunta monella eri tavalla säilyttäen kuitenkin perusolemuksensa. Tutkimukseni perusteella kunnan tehtäväkentän rajaaminen näyttäytyy eri tavoin eri kunnissa. Tehtävien väheneminen itsessään ei horjuta kunnan asemaa ja merkitystä instituutiona. Muutoksen kokemisessa olennaista on kuntajohdon käsitys kunnasta. Palvelutehtävään nojaavissa kunnissa muutos näyttää vaikeammalta, kun taas sellaisissa kunnissa, joissa kunta nähdään moniulotteisempana kokonaisuutena, muutos näyttäytyy helpompana. Palvelukuntakäsitykseen perustuva näkemys kunnasta saa muutoksen näyttämään lopun alulta. Monipuolisempi kuntakäsitys auttaa näkemään muutoksessa uuden alun, jossa kunta on mahdollista keksiä uudelleen. Kunta ei sen tehtävien vähenemisen myötä onttoudu. Sen sijaan muutos paljastaa palvelukuntakäsityksen onttouden, jossa valtion kunnille määräämiin palvelutehtäviin keskittyneen kunnan idea on kadonnut vuosikymmeniä kasvaneen palvelukuorman alle. Tutkimukseni perusteella kuntamuutos näyttäytyy kumulatiivisena prosessina, jossa ei ole selväpiirteistä alkua eikä loppua, vaan jossa erilaiset sykäykset laittavat liikkeelle uusia muutosvoimia, jotka johtavat uusiin muutoksiin. Muutosten suunta vaihtelee eri kunnissa, mikä lisää kuntien erilaistumista. Kunnan olemassaolo näyttäytyy alati muuttuvana jatkumona, jossa kuntaa jatkuvasti rekonstruoidaan, ja jossa kuitenkin on eräitä kiinteästi mukana kulkevia peruselementtejä, jotka jäsentävät kuntana olemista. Hallinnonuudistuksen myötä kuntiin kohdistunut muutos on avannut mahdollisuuden tehdä näkyväksi kunnan olemuksen eri ulottuvuuksia ja kuntana olemisen monia tapoja. Kuntien erilaisuus ja kiihtyvä erilaistuminen haastaa vuosikymmeniä kuntia koskevaa lainsäädäntöä ohjanneen käsityksen kunnista geneerisenä, homogeenisena joukkona. Tämä ajattelutavan muutos vaikuttaa niin paikallistasolla, valtion kuntapolitiikkaan kuin kuntatutkimukseen. Kunta pakenee yhteen muottiin pakottavaa yhtenäiskunta-ajattelua, ja esiin tulevat monet rinnakkaiset kuntatodellisuudet. ; Local government, change and the change of local government This research concerns the change of local government. I focus on the question, how local government appears in a context of administrative reform that reduces the tasks of local government. I also study what kinds of effects the reform has on local government. The aim of this research is to increase understanding about the multidimensionality and the extension of this kind of reform. The research is em-pirical focusing on one case, the regional self-government experiment in Kainuu region, Finland. In my empirical case study research I show what meanings local government is given to, what kinds of broader societal effects the change of local government is connected to and what the change of local government as a whole is about. I consider local government as a constantly changing social construction. By using phenomenological research setting and by analyzing the interview data, I demonstrate what we talk about when talking about local government. By doing this I reconstruct the concept of local government. The conceptual basis of this research is based on the concept of local government, the side-effects of adminis-trative reforms and hollowing out of the local government as an analogy of hollow-ing out of the state. As a result of my grounded theory based analysis I have built an empirically based theory of local government. I examine the effects of the reform that are re-lated to local government and the meanings that local government is given to in the reform context. The local government related effects are 1) organizational and functional effects, 2) effects related to management and 3) the changes in local government conceptions. The rhetoric about change is contradictory when it comes to change, constancy and the nature of change. In my research I have also defined four main tasks for local government based on the data. These tasks are 1) democracy task, 2) economy task, 3) community task and 4) well-being task. These tasks are combined by the core task, raison d´être, of local government that ac-cording to my definition is as follows: local government is a local self-governmental community creating prerequisites for living. The basic tasks are em-phasized differently in different municipalities and the emphasis varies over time also in single municipalities. Local government can, thus, be local government in various ways still maintaining its basic essence. My research indicates that reducing local government tasks affect differently in different municipalities. Task reduction as such does not destabilize the status and meaning of local government. The way local government leaders understand local government seems to be essential when figuring out how the change is experienced. The change seems to be more difficult in municipalities that lean on the service task while the change seems to be easier in municipalities where local government is seen as a more multidimensional unity. Grounding the local government conception on the service task makes the change appear as the beginning of the end while the more versatile conception helps in seeing a new beginning in the change where it is possible to re-invent local government. Thus, local government will not hollow out due to the task reduction but the change reveals the hollowness of service municipality conception. Instead, it seems that the idea of local government has been lost during the decades when the state has given constantly new tasks to the local level. In the light of my research the change of local government appears as a cumulative process with no clear beginning nor clear end, as a process in which various pulses cause new drivers that lead to new changes. The direction of change varies in different municipalities which increases the differentiation of municipalities. The change fosters change so that the existence of local government can be seen as a constantly changing continuum where local government is continuously reconstructed and where are some firm basic elements that structure the existence of local government. The change that the reform has brought up has opened up the chance to make visible the various dimensions of the essence of local government and the various ways of how local government can exist. The difference and differentiation of municipalities challenge the conception of local government as a generic, homogenous group, the conception that has for decades steered the legislation concerning Finnish local government. This change of mindset will have effects not only on the local level but also on the national policy and research concerning local govern-ment. Local government cannot be categorized in one, single unitary form, but instead, various parallel local government realities emerge.

With the introduction of the European Stability and Growth Pact most European members introduced domestic fiscal rules to make all different levels of govern- ment responsible for the control of central public accounts. There is a broad debate on the suitability of the fiscal rules set in the Treaty of Maastricht and in the Stability and Growth Pact. The present PhD's thesis review the evolution of Domestic Stability Pact in Italy (Chapter 1) and empirically investigate two research questions. In Chapter 2 we explore the impact of capital expenditure constraints on investments in public works. After 2008, the Italian central gov- ernment strongly changed financial rules aimed at imposing fiscal discipline on local governments. Municipalities subject to the Domestic Stability Pact (DSP) collided with new stronger expenditure restrictions and tougher punishments for non-compliers. This institutional change allows us to identify a causal relationship between the DSP and investment in public works implementing a "Difference-in- Differences" (D-i-D) design. Being exposed to the Pact reduces investment in public works by 47% and number of auctions by 44%, while increases winning re- bate by 5.5% and number of bidders by 16%. In Chapter 3 we evaluate the effect of a reduction in investment for public works on new firm formation. The results show that the amount invested in public works by local governments is a very important determinant of new firm formation. A one standard deviation decrease in total starting value decreases the entry rate for all firms by 21% and the entry rate for construction firms only by 29%.

The connection between the public library and local government derives from the former's genetic heritage. The case of Sweden would appear to be exemplary in this regard. Our interest derives not only from the evident connection between the development of library services and the high level of autonomy of local bodies, but also from the administrative policy choices implemented to enable local authorities to exercise the autonomy conferred efficiently and on these administrative initiatives' repercussions on library legislation. Sweden has a long-standing tradition of autonomy. Lay and ecclesiastical institutions intermingled until the two administrative spheres were separated in 1862. Simultaneously, town and provincial councils were endowed with powers to levy taxes for their administrative activities and to draw up their own budgets. The wide-ranging reforms introduced since the 1950s have drastically reduced the number of local authorities. This process was engendered by the awareness that an efficient response at local level to the request for services deriving from a modern industrial society entails first and foremost a concentration of resources, possible only for territorial bodies endowed with a sufficiently large population to assure, through taxes, adequate revenues. As regards libraries, state subsidies to town libraries were suspended in 1965, while provincial (or county) libraries are disciplined by a law of 1966 which envisages joint financing by the state and the provincial administration. The new library law enacted in 1996 (no. 1596 of 20 December 1996) is what we in Italy would call a "framework" law and consists of only ten incisive sections. This is a guideline law containing statements of principles, aimed above all at public libraries. The establishment of both town and county libraries is mandatory. As regards financing, local councils fund town library and school library services, while the counties, assisted by the state, fund the provincial library services. The state finances the university libraries, lending centres and special projects. The law pays specific attention to handicapped users and ethnic minorities.

Envisaging political power as dynamic allows the historian to deal with its structures with some sophistication. This paper approaches political power, not as a circumscribed block of bureaucratic elements, but as a complex phenomenon rooted in social reality. The authors explore the dialogue between local and central power, understanding 'dialogue' in its widest sense. Thus the relationships (both amicable and hostile) between local and central spheres of influence are studied. The authors propose a new analytical framework for the study of the config uration of political power in the northern zone of the Iberian peninsula, over a long period of time, which takes in both the post-Roman world a nd the political structures of the early Middle Ages.

Per affrontare la generale condizione di crisi socio-economica, le comunità e le città riscoprono il valore strategico dei fattori localizzativi, quale condizione che favorisce la partecipazione delle piattaforme urbane alla competizione globale. Le istanze energetiche ed ambientali rilanciano il costruire nel costruito, suggerendo interesse prioritario per i vuoti urbani come le aree industriali dismesse. Se il locale non incide su queste priorità, è pronto un ritorno al protagonismo dello Stato. Nello scenario metropolitano di Roma, per esempio, si evidenzia il comprensorio di Colleferro, company town del Novecento, con vaste aree industriali dismesse: reti ed infrastrutture adeguate, paesaggi significativi quale esito della specifica storia industriale del sito. Il piano provinciale intende coinvolgerle per potenziare la piattaforma metropolitana di Roma: un intenso confronto locale e territoriale ricerca proposte operative. Da un lato si intende coinvolgere la filiera istituzionale su programmi urbanistici di intervento, riferimento di normativa consolidata ma non sempre efficiente nelle sue diverse caratterizzazioni, dall'altro si cerca di arricchire di valore la dimensione edilizia ritenuta più praticabile. Le criticità ambientali sono ampiamente governabili, ma di fronte ai tempi della crisi, il governo locale deve manifestare intensità e slancio, anche in vista delle possibilità di investimento che si prospettano con la nuova politica annunciata dalla BCE. ; In order to overcome the general socio-economic crisis, communities and cities are rediscovering the strategic role of location factors as a condition that promotes the participation of urban platforms to global competition. Energy and environmental policy improves the urban regeneration, suggesting priority interest for empty spaces such as the industrial brownfields. If local government doesn't affect these priorities, the return to the central leadership is already. In the scenario of metropolitan Rome, for example, the twentieth century company town of Colleferro highlights, with vast industrial brownfields, acceptable utilities and infrastructures, significant landscapes as the outcome of site-specific industrial history. The provincial plan intends to involve those wastelands to enhance the metropolitan platform of Rome: as a consequence an intense local and territorial debate is searching for operational proposals. On the one hand the debate intends to involve governments about some urban renewal programs, based on established rules but not always efficient in their various characterizations, on the other one the goal is valuing the building scale because considered more feasible. The critical environmental issues are largely manageable, but in the face at the times of the crisis, the local government must demonstrate strength and leadership, also in view of the investment opportunities that lie ahead with the new policy announced by the ECB.

Public administration, strategic management and organizational behaviour have found an intersection in behavioural microfoundation of dynamic capabilities. The aspects are treated through literature reviews and empirical analyses. The attention is on public organizations. Municipalities are characterized by proximity to external stakeholders and the possibility to apply strategic concepts, such as dynamic capabilities. Two dynamic capabilities are relevant: innovation and ambidexterity. The thesis defines these constructs and studies their antecedents. In microfoundation, two major fields are cognitive capabilities and social capital. A survey is administered in Italian local governments. Data collection is significant: 551 municipal employees working in 50 municipalities. The results confirm that cognitive capabilities, mindfulness and political skills, and social capital, internal and external, may have positive effects on individual dynamic capabilities in local governments.

"Fare Mente Locale" Pratiche di sviluppo locale autosostenibile nella comunità di Piazza al Serchio a cura di Bonini Daniele Il lavoro da me ipotizzato per la tesi di laurea specialistica in scienze sociali (89\s) riguarda nello specifico la sociologia del territorio e dello sviluppo in riferimento al progetto dell'urbanista A.Magnaghi, esponente della scuola Territorialista, che ha come obbiettivo la riscoperta della coscienza di luogo attraverso pratiche di riterritorializzazione. La tesi si articola su più livelli : partendo dalla ricostruzione schematica del lavoro di Magnaghi, e attraverso il contributo di altri autori più o meno noti come Serge Latouche, Luisa Bonesio e Franco La Cecla cercherò di definire epistemologicamente e metodologicamente il progetto per ottenere gli orientamenti e gli strumenti necessari per lo studio territoriale da cui è necessario partire per poter poi promuovere le pratiche di sviluppo locale autosostenibile. Essendo questo uno studio propriamente empirico è mia intenzione dare una continuità ai principi territorialisti con il mondo della vita quotidiana, nello specifico alla comunità di Piazza al Serchio piccolo comune sito nel cuore della Garfagnana in provincia di Lucca. Prendendo tutte le precauzioni del caso è mio interesse far ricerca sul campo, interviste, documenti ed altro per reperire le informazioni necessarie grazie alle quali ricostruire i processi di lunga durata che hanno permesso la relazione sinergica tra gli ambienti: costruito, antropico e ambientale dagli anni 50 in poi, quando la comunità sfruttava ancora i saperi del luogo. Considerando che il processo di deterritorializzazione e conseguente perdita di coscienza di luogo non ha risparmiato la comunità a cui mi riferisco, la ricostruzione Storico-culturale permette di evidenziare il momento della rottura del rapporto uomo\ambiente e ,senza soffermarmi troppo sulle cause (processo di industrializazione, relazione città-campagna) , da qui ripartire per oggettivare nuovi possibili processi di territorializzazione che vedono al centro di coordinamento dei lavori la comunità interessata ; autosostenibilità. Le nuove regole insediative devono rispettare le 5 sostenibilità proposte da I.Sachs: 1. Economica : promozione di autoimprenditorialità, economia di scambio, locale e solidale. 2. Politica: nuova municipalità, il comune non più come semplice amministratore ma come ente che facilita le iniziative, ripristino usi civici (proprietà reale). 3. Ambientale : recupero spazi aperti, promozione attività agricole,riduzione cementificazione 4. Territoriale : chiusura cicli energetici, smaltimento rifiuti. 5. Sociale : dare voce ai soggetti che generalmente rimangono in sordina, associazioni, privati cittadini, piccoli imprenditori, agricoltori