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The emerging Danish government reform – centralised decentralisation

Andersen, Hans Thor

Across Western Europe, a number of governmental reforms have been implemented and more recently many have been rejected. These reforms are considered to be examples of adaptation to new global conditions; however, not all shifts in governmental systems and organisation are a result of the logic of globalisation. The current implementation of a new local government reform in Denmark can be considered to be one such example. In each case, the specific circumstances and history of a country play a major role; there is no universal model for the transition to neoliberal state reforms. To many observers, the nation state is being ‘hollowed out’ – simply squeezed from both the international and the subnational level as a result of globalisation and related processes. The Danish local government reform does not strengthen the metropolitan Copenhagen vis-à-vis other North European metropoles. Rather, the reform seems to reduce the room for manoeuvre and in fact dismantles major parts of the city's strategic capacity and institutions. On the other hand, the Danish case of increased pressure for local adaptation to global economic challenges and financial control from central government represents a special version of the neoliberal competitive state.