Introduction: from top-down to bottom-up - free communes and the politics of administrative modernization, Harald Baldersheim and Krister Stahlberg. Part 1 Free commune experiments as national initiatives: the Swedish case - political change and administrative resistance, Lars Stromberg and Lena Lindgren; the Danish case - rational or political change?, Erik Alboek; the Norwegian case - an experiment in bottom-up learning, Harald Baldersheim and Anne Lise Fimreite; the Finnish case - a reform rather than an experiment, Krister Stahlberg. Part 2 ...and the local response: new roles in political and administrative leadership in Norwegian local government, Oddbjorn Bukve and Terje P. Hagen; deregulation and decentralization in the Swedish free commune experiment, Kai Kronvall; free commune experiments - a new organizational culture in Finnish municipalities?, Risto Harisalo and Vuokko Niiranen; local economic development - lessons from the free commune experiment, Jon Helge Lesjo; a case of self-regulation - the city of Hameenlinna, Krister Stahlberg; the management of organizational change in local government - methods and results, Lawrence Rose. Conclusions: vitalization from below - towards the self-regulating municipality, comparative notes on the Nordic free commune experiments, Harald Baldersheim and Krister Stahlberg.
