The Scope of City Autonomy in the Constitutions of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Informality, Subsidiarity, Identity

Bibliographic Data

ID21822327
AuthorsGert Jan A Geertjes, Gert Jan Geertjes (Leiden University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume15
Issue2
Pages283-304
Publication date2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHague Journal on the Rule of Law (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1876-4045 • E-ISSN: 1876-4053
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s40803-023-00195-z
OpenAlexW4385428348
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

One of the main issues in the debate on urban constitutionalism is how constitutions can recognize the increasingly important role of cities in relation to the nation-state. This paper examines what we talk about when we talk about city autonomy. This is a pressing question, particularly in the context of European unitary states. This paper pays special attention to the context of two of such states, namely the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (especially England). First, it explores the notion of subsidiarity, which implies that consideration should be given to the distinctiveness of the city as regards the allocation of power to the central and regional levels respectively. However, this idea in itself cannot justify the case for city autonomy, as the claim that the attribution of autonomous powers to cities may improve the quality of decision-making in the state as a whole needs additional empirical evidence. Second, it investigates the concept of city autonomy by exploring the fuzziness of the notion of the city. In addition, it introduces the concept of ‘spatial identities’ in order to explain the interdependence of (large) cities and their surrounding (rural) areas. Lastly, it concludes that if the importance of cities as constitutional actors is to be increased, it should be done so in an informal way rather than by the introduction of formal constitutional arrangements both from a pragmatic and a normative perspective

Autonomy · Constitutionalism · Democracy · Economics · European union · Law and economics · Legitimacy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Subsidiarity · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Ombudsman and Human Rights · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration

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