Extent and dynamics of the remunicipalisation of public services

Abstract

Remunicipalisation of local public services has attracted the interest of scholars from different fields of the social sciences in recent years. Whereas earlier studies into this phenomenon were dominated by case-based analysis there has been a noteworthy increase in quantitative studies in recent years. There is now, abundant evidence on the drivers of remunicipalisation especially the influence of pragmatic and political motivations. Other topics, such as the effects of remunicipalisation, however, remain underdeveloped. We provide an overview of the scope and dynamics of remunicipalisation, recent advances in its research, and discuss where future research should be directed.