Intermunicipal Cooperation in the Pilsen Region

This thesis deals with the inter-municipal cooperation in the Pilsen region. In the theoretical part there is the concept of inter-municipal cooperation defined and the reasons behind the cooperation among the municipalities explained. These include efforts to overcome the fragmented municipal structure, more efficient and cheaper providing of the services and savings. In this thesis there are also the risks and limits of the inter-municipal cooperation mentioned and the attention is paid to the possible democratic deficits. The cooperation of the municipalities is also compared to the amalgamation of municipalities. The next section contains case studies of inter-municipal cooperation in selected European countries. The following section regards the Czech Republic, in which there is the development of municipal structures explored, as well as the legislative basis of the inter-municipal cooperation issues and also the causes that lead to cooperation between municipalities are assessed. After that, the attention is given to the voluntary associations of municipalities and micro-regions in the Pilsen region