Taking Time and Space Seriously in the Study of Amalgamation Reforms: Exploratory Analysis and Some Descriptive Generalizations

This chapters employs the analytical tools of Historical Comparative Analysis to explore how the history of local government systems has conditioned the choice of amalgamation reforms across European countries and over time. In the first section, the date of birth of each local government system is identified in its chronological time and the time sequence of adoption in each country is then compared to the geographical location of each system to detect possible clusters across space and over time. In the second section, each local government system is divided into periods bookended by critical junctures. These periodizations will help in the detection of common patterns of consolidation and/or fragmentation across local government systems as well as highlight possible longue durée structures, particularly secular, cyclical or convergence trends. The chapter closes with the deployment of two tools of physical time—duration and tempo—to uncover regularities in amalgamation reforms across space and time.