Suchergebnisse

The most widely used typologies of European local government systems are based on research conducted in the 1980s. The most popular are those of Page and Goldsmith (1987), distinguishing between Northern and Southern European systems, and Hesse and Sharpe (1991), distinguishing between Southern, Northern and Anglo-Saxon models. The rare attempts to include the Eastern part of the continent are far from comprehensive or satisfactory. They usually view the whole region as a distinct group, referring to its specific historical background and recent radical decentralisation (Bennett 1993, Heinelt and Hlepas 2006). Disappointingly, the same approach is presented in the most recent comprehensive analysis of European local government systems (Loughlin et al. 2010). This article tries to fill the gap produced by this simplification, by offering a comprehensive picture of the variation within the Eastern European region and suggesting a first attempt at a typology of around 20 countries of the region. The criteria for this typology refers to those used in earlier classifications of the Western European systems and include: (i) territorial organisation and tiers of elected local governments, (ii) scope of functions provided by local governments (functional decentralisation), (iii) financial autonomy, (iv) horizontal power relations within local government institutions (election systems and relationships between mayors and councils). Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this paper is to review the Polish experience of local democracy less than a year after the first free local election (27 May, 1990). But it is impossible to understand the present situation without looking back at the previous system of local authorities and so the article begins by describing this system. Next I discuss the introduction and the main features of the new system. In the third section I try to give a brief description of local leaders' consciousness at the beginning of the transition process and its implications for present reforms. The aim of the next section is to discuss to what extent the changes in Poland are similar to those occurring in the rest of Eastern Europe and the hypothesis is forwarded that comparisons with Hungary may be the most interesting. Finally, I present a critical description of the first experiences of new councils. I concentrate on their problems, conflicts and obvious mistakes, not on success, but it is necessary to remember that Polish communes are differentiated and the problems described do not always concern all of them. In the final chapter I try to sum up and evaluate the present situation. I argue that despite all the problems and misunderstandings some progress has been made.

Transition from central government control to greater autonomy at the local government level.