Skip to main content
09/09/2020 - 11:42

Decentralisation to sub-national government not typical for a small state

Decentralisation to sub-national government not typical for a small state - Available at University of Iceland

The book Sub-National Government in Small States: The Case of Iceland by Eva Marín Hlynsdóttir, associate professor in public administration at the University of Iceland Faculty of Political Science, was recently published by the respected publishers Palgrave Macmillan.

The author examines sub-national government in small states with particular focus on the situation in Iceland. She summarises information on local government in Iceland, whilst also looking at other states of a comparable size, with a population of between 100,000 and 1 million. The book aims to evaluate the impact that a small population can have on small states' potential to organise and decentralise responsibilities to lower levels of government. The author explores the decentralisation of power and responsibilities to local government in countries with low populations from the perspective of small state theory. 

Her primary conclusions, as presented in the book, are that municipalities and local government in small states generally have fewer responsibilities and that systems are more centralised than in countries with larger populations. However, Iceland is a clear exception, in terms of decentralisation of both power and responsibilities. Iceland, therefore, with a population under 1 million, can not be considered a typical small state in this respect.

Icelandic government has more in common with the other Nordic countries regarding the decentralisation of power. The situation in Iceland also bears more resemblance to the Baltic states in terms of the level of decentralisation, for example with the proportion of official expenditure going to sub-national government. Eva Marín's findings, therefore, indicate that the Icelandic government's policy on local governance, with an emphasis on increased decentralisation of power and responsibilities, is very unusual in an international context, not least in consideration of Iceland's position as a small state with a low population. 

Eva Marín Hlynsdóttir and the cover of her book