Territorial Reforms: Concepts and Cases of Boundary Change

This introductory chapter provides the foundation and justification for the book. I present and discuss briefly the mainstream explanation—reform theory—for the enactment of local government amalgamations. The anomalies identified in this conventional explanation are manifest in the theory, methods and evaluation focus of amalgamation studies. The chapter provides an overview of all types of territorial reforms (annexations, incorporations and city-county consolidations) and situates amalgamations as a special case of local boundary change. Several definitions of municipal amalgamations and their key features are advanced. Taking these definitions as the starting point, the chapter provides a background on amalgamation reforms, highlighting the need to consider time, space and human agency in the analysis of territorial reforms in general and municipal amalgamations in particular. The chapter also addresses the complex relationship between size, amalgamations and local government efficiency. I make a preliminary attempt to untangle these effects, before delving into these arguments in more detail in later chapters.