Peter H. Merklis Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published extensively on comparative and German government and politics, in particular the origin of the West German Republic and German unification. He also edited a series of volumes on German politics.

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

• The Plan for this Book

Chapter 1. Changing Villages and Small Places in Bavaria

• Contemporary Social Change
• Population Trends
• Stages of Community Development
• The Transformation of Agriculture

Chapter 2. The Small Town or Village Community

• Secularization and Community Life
• The Elementary School and the Community
• Social Groups and Festivals in West Middle Franconia
• Economic Enterprises of the Community
• The Future of Small Places

Chapter 3. Planning Local Territorial Reform

• The Era of Reforms
• Federal Initiatives Toward Raumordnung
• Bavaria Tackles Territorial Reorganization
• Regional Planning and Administrative Reform
• The Kreisreform
• The Independent City and Hinterland Reforms
• The Communal Territorial Reform

Chapter 4. The Implementation of the Reform

• Implementation of the Local Reform
• The Reform in Middle Franconia
• Patterns of Reaction to Bavaria's Reform
• Toward a Modern, Functional Society

Chapter 5. No Town is an Island Local Government in the West German System

• Federalism in the Basic Law
• The Changing Federal Financial Constitution
• Cooperative Federalism or Politikverflechtung?
• The Future Role of the Communes
• The Laäender and the European Union

Chapter 6. Conclusion

• Mini-Towns and Micro-Communes
• Revisiting Wolframs-Eschenbach
• Re-interviewing the Bürgermeisters
• Small Town and Village in Bavaria

Appendix: Tables A1-A15

Selected Bibliography

Index