Subdivisions of Switzerland difficulties maintaining the civil services they need to perform the duties they are required to do. In an effort to reduce expenses, many municipalities are combining together (through mergers or the creation of special-purpose districts). This restructuring is generally encouraged by the cantonal governments and the rate of these unions is increasing. "Cities" ("villes" or "Städte") are the municipalities with more than 10'000 inhabitants or smaller places which had medieval town rights. There is no specific designation for smaller communities such as "village" or "town". Some subdivisions that exist are: Subdivisions of Switzerland The Swiss Confederation comprises the 26 cantons
Canton of Basel one of twenty-two "sovereign cantons" of Switzerland, enumerated as "Basel (Stadt und Land"). In this sense, as a sovereign member of the Swiss Confederacy, the canton of Basel continued to exist until 1999, when the revised constitution recognised the two former half-cantons as "cantons" for the first time. Several attempts have been made to reunite Basel-City and Basel-Country. In 1969, the citizens of Basel-Country defeated the motion in a referendum. The two cantons have since concluded a number of co-operation agreements, such as joint financing and governance of the University of Basel. Canton of Basel Basel was a canton of