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The scale of Flemish municipalities keeps dominating the political agenda in Flanders. In recent years the Flemish government has stimulated the municipalities to merge on a voluntary basis. If they do so, they can receive more competences and strengthen their position. However, this policy has not generated any success so far. In this paper the authors place these efforts in a historical perspective, before addressing the current policy in Flanders concerning scale and decentralisation. In the final part of the paper the authors introduce some foreign experiences with scale and decentralisation. It is remarkable that the current debate in Flanders does not stand on its own. The authors try to determine what lessons Flanders can learn from these foreign experiences. ; U radu se istražuju odnosi između središnje i lokalne uprave u belgijskoj regiji Flandriji. Posljednjih godina često se raspravljalo o veličini općina, njihovim nadležnostima i načinu na koji surađuju u međuopćinskim tijelima. Započinje se kratkim povijesnim pregledom. Belgijske su se regije tijekom 1960-ih i 1970- ih suočile s opsežnom operacijom amalgamacije kojom se smanjio njihov broj s više od 2.000 na adašnjih 589 općina. Postignuto je političko primirje koje je trajalo više godina, no na nizozemskom govornom području zemlje rasprave o organizaciji unutarnjeg ustrojstva države nikada nisu prestale. U radu se ukratko opisuju mnogobrojni pokušaji postizanja strukturnog dijaloga između flamanskih vlasti i 308 flamanskih općina. Nakon toga slijedi osvrt na politiku trenutnih flamanskih vlasti prema općinama. Veličina općina se ponovno preispituje i više nego što je to prije bio slučaj. Dodjela dodatnih adležnosti općinama služi kao nagrada i poticaj općinama na spajanje, uz financijske poticaje. Ipak, zasad se ova politika pokazala neuspješnom. Lokalni političari gotovo uopće ne podržavaju dobrovoljno spajanje. U radu se spominju primjeri drugih zemalja koje su provele teritorijalne reforme. Ti primjeri mogu poslužiti kao inspiracija i iz njih se mogu izvući pouke primjenjive u Flandriji i drugdje.

With the local elections in 2006, new organizational schemes have been applied by the Flemish government to the 308 municipalities. These schemes included institutional reform aimed to change the outset of local government. In this article we studied the influence of these reforms in practice. Are they actually carriers of change? We thereby focused on the direct aspects linked to these reforms. While many instruments of reform had indirect intended effects, acceptance & action among key decision-makers (both voters & local governors to the extent of their discretion) to use them directly becomes crucial. Our analysis has shown that, with some exceptions, direct autonomous space for action was only limitedly used, hence reducing the chances for indirect change. While it is still too early to fully assess the foreseen indirect effects, in our opinion it is crucial to understand the nature of these local reforms within the central (Flemish) bargaining arena. The latter seems to have transformed the new schemes of local governmental organization to the path-dependent art of the political feasible. Tables, Figures. Adapted from the source document.