
Filipe TelesUniversity of Aveiro | UA · Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences
Filipe Teles
PhD Political Science
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119
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Introduction
PhD in Political Science, Associate Professor in the Dept of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Member of the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy (GOVCOPP). President (2021-2025) of the European Urban Research Association. He is a member of the Portuguese Association of Political Science, the Political Studies Association (UK), the International Political Science Association.
Additional affiliations
September 2006 - present
Publications
Publications (119)
This article analyses the role of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) as a governance model in promoting water circular economy (WCE) and water reuse practices. Despite the potential benefits offered by IMC, little is known about how IMC could contribute to fostering WCE adoption. The article develops and uses a framework to assess the involvement of...
Water reuse and recycling are challenging and risky. One challenge lies in tailoring the institutional design capable of attending to the specific attributes of the existing institutional set-up and similarly preventing potential governance risks. This chapter develops a methodology to enhance the understanding of institutional arrangements for the...
This chapter discusses subnational governance in Portugal, within an historical context of centralization, and the problems it creates for suitable ways of addressing contemporary urban challenges. The argument presented here is based on a general model of successful subnational governance that is dependent on the capacity and competences of multip...
Local governance networks are increasingly seen as the big idea to cope with issues that are complex enough in scope and scale to require a diversity of expertise and resources. While conventional narrative has posited that local networks are optimal for addressing a range of policy problems, and enhancing democratic participation, scarce attention...
In the current complex and uncertain times, where local and global scales are increasingly interdependent, territorial innovation policies are crucial to ensure a cohesive and sustainable territorial development of regions. These policies assume a critical role in the case of less developed regions (LDRs) as they often lack the resources of leading...
In the last decade, the development of a wide European Union approach to urban policy has reached a stronger stage of consolidation. However, the accomplishments of the EU Urban Agenda are highly dependent on decentralised styles of territorial governance, and domestic contexts can be detrimental of some of the intended changes. In Portugal, the Eu...
Water scarcity and security drive attention to water reuse in policy and business. However, water reuse may generate new water loops and challenge water governance with new and different types of water, risks, involved actors, and responsibilities. These challenges demand robust institutional arrangements related to water governance. This article a...
The goal of the chapter is to demonstrate how the core literature of urban governance is still blind to the current environmental crisis. Recognizing this pressing challenge and the difficulties of cities to deliver a global sustainable trajectory, the chapter raises critical questions on how to redirect local governance principles and research age...
Why are some countries able to go ahead with comprehensive top-down local government amalgamation reforms, despite the many challenges such a reform entails? So far, we have limited theoretical and empirical understanding of how central governments manage to adopt such reforms. Drawing on different theoretical frameworks around public policy as wel...
This introductory chapter gives on the one hand an overview of the survey on which the book is based. This includes self-critical comments on the response rate and that not all those who took part in the survey wanted to answer all the questions or could not answer all of them. On the other hand, the research questions addressed by the individual c...
This chapter’s main claim is that scholarship has failed to fully develop the practical implications of the diversity of local state society networks. Our analysis of the comprehensive survey of the perceptions of members of these networks in Europe has shown their remarkable differences and some interesting commonalities, mainly along a clear evid...
This chapter analyses perceptions of coherence within local governance arrangements. It seeks to assess the social, political and demographic variables that can explain variance. It demonstrates that coherence positively impacts the effectiveness and coordination of local networks, which are also propelled by personal and institutional trust among...
Spatial planning policies are fundamental blocks for the
implementation of sustainable development goals. Still, despite
the growing adoption of environmental proxies, as it is nature-
based solutions, the study of their institutionalization in policy
and spatial planning is in the early stages. Simultaneously, the
use of discursive and interpretat...
As reformas implicam mudanças, introduzem novas formas de planejamento, execução e avaliação. Também pode implicar a modernização e a introdução de processos inovadores, que podem ser disruptivos, e incrementais, mas sempre considerando o desafio que surge no início: a capacidade de governança. Portanto, as variáveis como a manutenção ou o aumento...
The Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics brings together the best scholars in the field offering an unrivalled coverage of the politics (broadly defined) of the country over the past 50 years. The Handbook includes eight sections. First, we look at the ‘Past and Present’ by making an overview of Portuguese political developments since democratiza...
This chapter explores the most recent developments in Portuguese local politics. The role of local governments, their evolution and reform trends in Europe will set the comparative background for this chapter and will provide the analytical tools needed to understand different perspectives and the debates regarding decentralization, municipal auton...
The transition towards a Water Circular Economy (WCE), in the sense of water reuse, demands cooperative governance and territorial rescaling to overcome fragmentations in sectors and water policies. While the transition is challenging for local governments and crosses economic sectors and spatial scales, Inter-Municipal Cooperation IMC is gaining p...
This research aims to understand the relevant pre-conditions and barriers for territorial innovation behind the Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) of a lagging European Union (EU) region. For that purpose, a Delphi was conducted to a panel of experts responsible for the design of the RIS3 of the Centro region of Port...
The European Union’s Cohesion Policy aims at strengthening economic, social and territorial cohesion to correct imbalances between countries and regions. However, European Union policy was expressed unevenly, and asymmetries grew at different scales. Therefore, it has raised discussions on territorial cohesion, which looks much different on the gro...
Modernization processes occur by following some type of previously defined stages or phases, which intend to have as a result the efficiency, efficacy, transparency and closeness to the citizen, namely, if one is referring to the modernization of public policies. The paper presents the results achieved with three research analysis performed: the fi...
Abstracts and keywords of the chapters
1. Björn Egner, Hubert Heinelt, Jakub Lysek, Patricia Silva and Filipe Teles: Introduction: The book’s scope and content
This introductory chapter gives on the one hand an overview about the survey on which the book is based. This includes self-critical comments on the response rate and that not all those wh...
The Ombudsman is one of the most relevant and institutionalized tools to give voice to citizens, so they can express their dissatisfaction with local public services. The literature has yet to produce a systematic explanation for the variation in complaints to the national Ombudsman. This paper uses classic literature from public administration and...
This book covered a wide range of questions and aspects related to local governments in Europe and set the landscape where the most vivid and relevant dimensions were highlighted and discussed. The topics addressed in these chapters touch upon three main aspects of research on local governments:
• • Space – The spatial and territorial features of...
This chapter presents the main arguments of this volume, and provides an overview of the main challenges and gaps in European local government studies. Some fundamental aspects of decentralised governance are discussed: territorial reforms, democratic empowerment of citizens, and new trends in local finances. This chapter’s approach is divided into...
This book provides a comprehensive coverage of current challenges to the very essence of local self- government. Authors from different European countries present a picture of the current situation and of the future developments laying ahead of us. Europe provides an extremely diverse ground for Local Government studies: modes of governance, the po...
A Conferência Internacional “Comunidades e Redes para a Inovação Territorial”, organizada pelo Programa Integrado CeNTER e pelo Departamento de Ciências
Sociais, Políticas e do Território da Universidade de Aveiro, à qual se associou a V Conferência de Planeamento Regional e Urbano constituiu-se como um espaço de discussão com a comunidade académic...
The Portuguese urban context has changed significantly over the past 45 years, facing several transformations that have affected national urban policies. This chapter intends to look at the major old and new urban challenges that have provided the substance for specific national policies towards urban spaces in what is a centralized country. It ide...
Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization (RIS3) was integrated as a key piece of the cohesion policy for the European Union (EU) for 2014–2020. During the recent years, more than 120 RIS3 have been developed, being a large-scale EU experience aimed to develop innovation-driven economic transformations at national and regional lev...
As políticas educativas resultantes da atuação dos Governos face à pandemia por
COVID-19: análise crítica do caso português
The chapter details and discusses the main findings of a quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis of institutionalized networks of local state-society relations in 22 European countries. It provides empirical validation for the conceptual characterization of local state-society relations based on the dimensions of autonomy, coherence and r...
The Portuguese case of local networks includes an analysis of Children and Youth Protection Committees, Municipal Councils of Education, Forest Fire Protection Commissions, and Participatory Budget Councils. These were selected taking into account their importance within the national context, also covering important functional areas of responsibili...
Interactions of societal actors in institutionalized governance networks with local authorities are one of the most common features of contemporary local governance. The multiple and diverse forms it can take provides relevant clues regarding different roles of local government in Europe, administrative, civic and political cultures, governance arr...
The chapter sets the stage for a comparative analysis of institutionalized governance networks grouping local governments and individual and collective or corporate societal actors unfolding at the municipal, sub-municipal and inter-municipal level. It details the premises for analyzing these networks with an emphasis on organized interests and int...
This book develops and tests a typology of local state-society relations. To deliver such a comparative study on institutionalized relations between local government and societal actors at the municipal level in Europe, the book identifies and classifies country-specific patterns of these institutionalized governance networks. This work explores th...
Talking is cheap, at least in the short term; elected officials may profess their preferences for IMC and yet deny IMA organisations the necessary resources to fulfil their missions. Driven by a focus on revealed preferences for inter-municipal cooperation, the article aims to answer two questions: Why do some IMA exhibit a high level of commitment...
Cities –or the urban complex spaces that they are becoming– are vital in society’s future, particularly in a general context of globalization. In this setting, power fragmentation and government to governance transitions, which are indisputable and significant phenomena, go hand in hand with urban movements that are becoming increasingly relevant,...
Following the challenges of the European Union (EU), member states have adopted circular economy (CE) plans and strategies, with objectives and measures to foster circularity. Although the concept of CE refers to various natural resources such as water and land, little is known on how current CE policies are integrating these environmental resource...
A inovação de base territorial pode ser entendida como um processo transformador de interação entre agentes onde a criação de valor social e/ou económico se baseia na existência de recursos endógenos. Há uma panóplia de processos de comunicação, colaboração e partilha de recursos específicos que podem fomentar tais mecanismos de inovação. No entant...
The food system is increasingly acknowledged as the single largest reason for humans' transgression of key planetary limits and it is gaining centrality in our societal run-up towards a sustainable future, especially at city level. In Portugal, a country characterized by high meat and fish consumption, noticeable food wastage, and high urbanization...
The European Union quickly incorporated the concept of nature based-solutions (NBS), becoming a key promotor. This was achieved through financial support for both academic research and city implementations. Still, the processes of institutionalization are yet to be fully explored. This study aims at assessing how the scientific literature regarding...
Territorial, economic and social cohesion in European Union (EU) regions are major challenges that regional policies are aimed at. These policies have a strong focus on innovation-driven models as key processes for reducing disparities and promoting regional development. Since the 1980s, innovation and technology policies have gained momentum and l...
Smart Specialization Strategies have been used to implement European Union Cohesion Policy in recent years, aiming to achieve economic, social and territorial development by reducing disparities between regions. The European Union often declares an alignment between Cohesion Policy, Smart Specialization Strategies and the United Nations Agenda 2030...
Research on Inter-Municipal Cooperation (IMC) in Europe suffers from a deficit of international comparative studies. This article presents an in-depth analysis of the level of institutionalization of IMC arrangements, claiming its relevance for future research and suggesting a set of post-typological dimensions needed for its characterization. It e...
Estuaries are one of the most productive and complex types of ecosystems supporting a wide range of economic activities. Departing from a set of governance problems and emergent goals, such as sustainability or climate change adaptation faced by an estuarine case study area, Ria de Aveiro, in Portugal, this article assesses the adequacy of alternat...
Contemporary notions of leadership could hardly be more distant from the traditional coercive forms of power and authority. It is still about power, but it has been fundamentally transformed. Political leadership in democracies is essentially about the exercise of seeking consent rather than imposing coercion. The essence of leadership is being per...
The problems of national debt and the Eurozone crisis plunged several nations into recessions. The financial crisis of 2007 and the subsequent sovereign debt crises in Portugal put at the centre of a borrowing cost upward spiral. Given the ever-increasing borrowing costs and the plea to the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB), and...
Inter-municipal cooperation: the quest for governance capacity?
Intermunicipal cooperation is being increasingly adopted in various countries to cope with the dilemmas of territorial scale and resource rationing. Despite the pressures towards the reshaping of administrative boundaries, little is known about the capacity of intermunicipal associatio...
Quais são os fatores que determinam a qualidade da governação local e como medi-los? Este estudo propõe-se avaliar a qualidade da governação local nos 308 municípios portugueses, através de um índice multidimensional, composto por 22 indicadores identificados e ponderados por um grupo de peritos e perceber quem são e como interagem os principais at...
Intermunicipal cooperation is being increasingly adopted in various countries to cope with the dilemmas of territorial scale and resource rationing. Despite the pressures towards the reshaping of administrative boundaries, little is known about the capacity of intermunicipal associations to function as effective, legitimate and resilient policy act...
In Europe, different countries developed a rich variety of sub-municipal institutions. Out of the plethora of intra- and sub-municipal decentralization forms (reaching from local outposts of city administration to “quasi-federal” structures), this book focuses on territorial sub-municipal units (SMUs) which combine multipurpose territorial responsi...
This chapter brings together the communalities identified in the previous chapters. It underlines the fact that inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in European countries is a highly diversified and growing phenomenon. In addition, it stresses the evolutive character of these arrangements as well as the difficulty in tracing its definition’s borders....
Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) is a growing occurrence in Europe and one of the most diverse phenomena in local government’s landscape. This chapter presents the aim of the book, how it is organised and explains why a new approach to IMC is necessary. It examines the intrinsic features of these governance arrangements and institutions created to...
This book sheds light on the central complexities of municipal cooperation and examines the dynamics, experiences and drivers of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in Europe. Particular attention is given to the features of governance arrangements and institutions created to generate and maintain collaborative settings between different local govern...
This book explores sub-municipal units’ (SMU) role in decision making, decentralized institutional innovation, social innovation and, in rural areas, service delivery. Focusing on fourteen European countries, the book examines the impact of political cultures, administrative traditions and local government systems on the functioning of the SMUs. An...
This chapter aims to contribute to the debate about sub-municipal units (SMUs) in Europe by presenting and discussing the characteristics of Portuguese freguesias. These parishes stand out as a special case in the European landscape, since all municipalities have SMUs that have evolved to become full-fledged, lower-tier local government units. We a...
Despite the academic and political discourses regarding smart specialization strategies and the entrepreneurial ecosystems, particularly underlining the additional role of society (“knowledge society”) referred by the quadruple-helix model, literature is more fragile in assessing the dilemmas it poses. Although innovation is regarded as an essentia...
Local governments are important childcare service producers. This chapter delineates their corresponding features across Europe, explores adjustments in childcare governance and discusses its consequences. The EU has, to a certain extent, harmonized child daycare by setting common goals. However, the recent changes in this policy area, arising from...
A fundamental dilemma which troubles advocates of interinstitutional partnerships in regional development pertains to the extent to which partnerships enhance the effectiveness of governance processes and outcomes. This dilemma is particularly relevant in contexts that lack strong cohesive regional development alliances, such as the Portuguese case...
It is a common phenomenon that municipalities cooperate with each other. Cooperation eventually brings
about the gains of efficiency or makes it possible to deliver services. We can however assume that cooperation
may also fail, cause unwarranted negative side-effects and diminish the democratic capacity of the
participating municipalities. The aim...
Local government reforms are not a new phenomenon and have been on the political agenda of most European countries since the 1960s. Europe has seen local government units searching for new roles and inviting new actors to participate in local problem solving. This has produced changes with an impact on the traditional models of local democracy and...
Inter-municipal cooperative arrangements vary in shape, scope and level of integration. They result from the political initiative of diverse, often opposite, agents and present different forms in nature and in the theoretical lenses used to study them. This chapter explores its diversity, demonstrates why comparative studies have been discouraged a...
This chapter looks back over the argument of previous chapters and returns to the set of questions outlined. Research hasn’t yet provided the answers to some of the most pertinent problems faced by inter-municipal cooperation. One of those challenges relates to the governance capacity of inter municipal cooperation. Efficiency, democracy and stabil...
Efficiency and scale concerns are at the core of territorial reforms in Europe. Control over a complex network of service delivery institutions, organisational fragmentation and multi-territorial public and private entities, with overlapping territories and areas of responsibility which don’t always coincide, are, from a governance efficiency point...
Portugal presents itself as a particularly interesting example of the challenges of inter-municipal cooperation. Despite the absence of a strong tradition of this form of collaboration between local authorities, which was furthered by a pattern of competition between municipalities, more recent cooperative approaches, which emerged as a consequence...
This chapter offers a summary of the main challenges and reasons for municipalities to work together. Though collaborative arrangements between local authorities are a trend in European countries, they haven’t had a correspondent relevance in research agendas. Its diversity and the interest local government themes usually have may have contributed...
Territory and scale have been some of the most relevant topics in recent political science, but do we know enough about cooperation between local governments? How we think about local government has changed significantly and requires us to be equipped with new epistemological gear, considering more variables and social functions of local government...
Is deceitful action an acceptable resource in contemporary political arenas? Are weak leaders inevitable? The current article claims that similar questions are a consequence of the pace at which events change, of the plethora of diverse contexts in which leaders act, and of the plurality of followers and of interests. In a context that favors the p...
"O Plano Estratégico de Vagos é o resultado de um estudo realizado ao município onde foram determinadas as áreas-chave de atuação do município para os próximos 20 anos.
No processo de elaboração deste plano foram chamados a participar todos os interessados no desenvolvimento do concelho, nomeadamente, autarcas, agentes económicos, partidos político...
Leadership theories fail to explain how leaders acquire and interpret context. This article claims
that political leadership styles articulate a choice of action that results from the leader’s
discerned possibilities to act. In order to explore these interpreted contextual determinants of
leadership styles and the degree to which “possibility” has...
Portugal is working on the reform of its local government. Although amalgamation was one of the recommended strategies, as a consequence of the European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout process, an alternative approach has been suggested. This reform is mostly a development of inter-municipal cooperation mechanisms combined with partial de...
One recognises that political leadership still makes a difference. However, scholarship seems incapable of offering the proper tools to provide further and relevant understanding on the theme, particularly when we consider liberal democracy's current trends, namely its egalitarian ethos and the personalisation of politics. One of its key features,...
Under certain circumstances the style of leadership of mayors can be the result of their context perceptions and their sense of political autonomy and efficacy. This assessment indicates that the political action of the mayor discloses a particular style of leadership that derives from his/her political will. This article suggests an analysis of po...
Local governments are increasingly seen as key facilitators of co-governance pro- cesses, enabling collaborative local networks. It is claimed in this article that the necessarily synergistic relationship between local government and civil society in facilitating governance mechanisms requires further elaboration. The issue of who initiates grassro...
An urge to reform local government in Portugal requires a sensitive approach to the role of social capital and, particularly, to the consequences of local governance arrangements in its formation. This research agenda, greatly influenced by the identification of positive externalities of social capital, has generated several claims regarding the ne...