Introduction

In this chapter, we focus on the inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in Lithuania that contributes to the larger discussion on the variety of territorial reforms in Europe. A large share of European research was done to examine single country-specific or comparative national data in discovering IMC phenomenon (eg, Borraz and Le Galés, 2005; Wollmann, 2010; Swianiewicz, 2014; Franzke et al, 2016). The available data find the relationship between the degree of territorial fragmentation and the consolidation of municipal functions and various forms and strategies for municipal cooperation. The lack of multiple resources and the need for better service delivery contribute to the more active involvement of municipalities in cooperative arrangements (eg, Hulst and Van Montfort, 2007; Rodrigues et al, 2012; Bel et al, 2013; Teles, 2016).

Considering territorial reforms, Lithuania represents rather limited experience in tailoring local governance systems to a wider decentralization. Contrary to the European perspective on IMC contribution to territorial reforms, Lithuania is experiencing a complicated path trying to reconcile a single-tier municipal system and the dominant national discourse on economies of scale and optimization. More qualitative management of the state, and better quality public services were considered as the main drivers for the decentralization process but were not fully implemented due to the lack of a systematic approach (Stonkute and Gaule, 2017). In the political agenda, IMC is seen as a substitute instrument for territorial reorganization reforms that have an impact on municipal functional performance, while the effects on democratic participation are vague. Generally, IMC has not received as much attention in Lithuanian research as in the countries with highly fragmented territorial administrative systems. Most of the research focuses on the institutional self-government structure (Astrauskas, 2002, 2014; Burbulytė-Tsiskarishvili et al, 2018), and citizen involvement and local democracy (Guogis et al, 2007; Bučaitė-Vilkė and Žilys, 2016). Considering IMC issues, more attention is paid to the sectoral public services delivery (Civinskas and Dvorakas, 2011; Tamutienė and Civinskas, 2013; Klimovský et al, 2014) and options for better cooperation regarding the size of municipalities (Bučaitė-Vilkė et al, 2018). The missing link in the literature is the analysis of different stakeholder involvement in different forms of cooperation and public interest issues.