Regional governance: Policies, institutional arrangements and municipal reforms

This chapter gives an overview of how regional development policies are managed by national governments. It considers some of the issues associated with both rural and urban development, including the increasing recognition of the importance of cities for regional development and the elements that help build a modern rural development policy. The chapter also addresses the importance of reforms modifying the size and responsibilities of different levels of sub-national government. Such reforms generally seek to reduce the number of local government bodies and are often associated with increases in their areas of responsibility.