The Korea Local Administration Review

From the 1990's, the Kantons are trying to merge small local governmentsinto a large unit constituting about 3,000 people. Small local governmentsconstitute Swiss, and more than 50% of each local government is composed ofless than 1000 people. They look forward to enhancing efficiency and power oflocal governments. Since 2006 consolidation of cities and counties has been apolitical hot potato in Korea. The Presidential Committee on LocalAdministration Reform was established in February 2011 to discuss reform oflocal government system including consolidation of cities and counties. At thispoint of time, the recent progress of Swiss gives us some implication. In thisarticle, the current status and progress of reform of local government systemin Swiss will be observed first. In addition, the pro and contra discussion aboutconsolidation of local government in Swiss. Furthermore, policy alternative toconsolidation in Swiss will be dealt with. Finally, some implications from theexperience of Swiss for the discussion about consolidation of cities andcounties in Korea will be presented. Opponents of consolidation suggest thatconsolidation of local government can be thought only when the problems cannot be solved through cooperation. In many cases cooperation with other localauthorities can be an alternative to consolidation.