欧洲联盟：一个制约农村治理的合作社协会的角色[文献翻译].docVIP

原 文： Constraints on Rural Governancein the European Union: A Role for Co-operative Associations? Abstract. In this contribution I argue that the concept of polycentricity that has evolved from the body of literature on governance problems in metropolitan areas (Tiebout, 1956, Ostrom, Tiebout, Warren, 1961, Marks Hooghe, 2003, Frey Eichenberger, 1999) may not be easily adapted to address current governance problems in the rural areas of the EU-27. The chapter explores some of the likely limits of the concept in the context of rural development in the European Union. I first explore the foundations of the concept of polycentricity, along with its assumptions and theoretical conclusions. I then characterize typica contemporary problems in the rural areas of the EU after the enlargement from EU-15 to EU-27. I then show that phenomena like rural poverty, local budget crises, and scale economies in service provision in areas like health-care, infrastructure and education lead to situations where the assumptions of multi-level governance are not met. Finally, I draw a few theoretical and practical conclusions, which are in line with the basic tenets of the concept of polycentricity, about the potential of cooperatives for solving governance problems in the rural areas of the Europea Union. Keywords: Consumer democracy, Local government, Multi-level governance, Public goods dilemma, Theory of the co-operative firm Along with the recent EU-enlargement, a discussion has emerged about how to delegate authority and how to adequately divide tasks and labor among various decision making units spread across different regions in the European Union. In this discussion there seems to be agreement among scholars that the emerging architecture of the system of European governance substantially differs from some larger form of unitary government. It is claimed that the internal heterogeneity of a growing European Union affords a complex, multi-tier system of sometimes competing dec