Suchergebnisse

The financial sector is characterised by numerous changes that affect the changes in the institutional structure of functioning of the financial system, as well as the choice of funding of business entities. This has resulted in the fact that in contemporary business conditions, financing of economic development become a complex area of research. Local development planning on the basis of public revenues is a weak base for the rapid development of local governments. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the budget financing by attracting private capital for the construction of public goods and improving the quality of public services. In this regard, the objective of this paper is to point to alternative ways of borrowing, both from domestic and international sources of funding, as well as to the possibilities for their use by the local governments. Bearing in mind the defined objective, the paper discusses the possible external sources of funding of local governments, such as loans from commercial banks and other financial institutions, and municipal bonds. In order to evaluate the possibilities for successful development of local governments, the paper points to the possible solutions to financing projects of public importance in the practice of Serbia.

Local self-government units are key cells of every country's development, pervading deeply needs and interests of local community members, the citizens of a state, who are considered to be the key factor in survival and development of a community. No successful democratic society can be achieved without a good and effi cient local self-government. For that reason, a special attention needs to be brought to the issue of local self-government units. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a fragmented system of local self-governmentmunits at entity level, with a very low degree of mutual cooperation, which greatly complicates and hinders the functioning of local self-government units at the state level. There is no unity in regulation and compliance of local self-government units functioning, at the state level, with the European Charter of Local Self-Government, or the documents of the Council of Europe, which is at odds with the aspirations of our country in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration with the rest of Europe.

The paper emphasizes the most important global problems in the field of the environmental protection in the context of the debate about the importance of the participation of the local self-governments in addressing those. The paper points out to the fact that the Republic of Serbia harmonized the national environmental legislation with the EU legislation as a part of the European Integration process of the Republic of Serbia. This process included the transfer of a significant part of the work in the environmental field (including activities related to global environmental issues) to be carried out by the local self-government. These are the following issues: climate change, protection of the biodiversity, forest resources management, sustainable use and management of water resources, waste management. This paper identifies how the RS regulations transferred jurisdiction on environmental responsibilities to the local self-government. The paper also refers to the national regulations in the field of the environment in which the local self-government has been made competent for the activities related to the global environmental problems and the question of the capacity of the local self-government to implement these regulations.

Local government is a complex system of management (Holding Company) that directly provides various services to the local community or operates a service delivery system, of a "higher" managerial (political, economic, social) level. The services provided in local government are very numerous and different in character. In this multitude of services, utilities can be considered as the local government services in the narrow sense. Utilities are services provided by local governments that meet the needs and interests of citizens and organizations. All utilities are, in fact, activities providing utilities, that is, services provided by local governments, through their bodies, organizations and services. The actions that implement these utilities are expertly technical actions and procedures, but what precedes the undertaking of these utilities is determined by the General Administrative Procedures Act (GAPA). Therefore, the provision of public utilities has its own expert and technical aspect, as well as administrative, which accompanies it before, during and after, in terms of utility services management. The optimization of administrative procedures has become an important goal of administrative reform in many countries and involves a number of measures. What is primary is determining administrative costs and burdens, which are a significant barrier to business as well as meeting citizens' daily needs. After enlisting of the administrative procedures, it is necessary to analyze and then optimize the administrative procedures related to communal services, in order to determine which procedures need to be simplified and which should be abolished. After the analysis has been carried out, the proposal will be prepared for the amendment, or simplification of administrative procedures, as well as the eventual abolition of those that are unnecessary. ; Published

Denne artikkelen undersøker hvorvidt respondenter i norske fylkesadministrasjoner oppfatter at sentrale beslutninger influeres av eksterne aktører – gjennom vertikale relasjoner til sentraladministrative instanser og EU/EØS-institusjoner, samt horisontale relasjoner til andre fylkesadministrasjoner – og hvordan variasjonen i slike relasjoner kan forklares. Artikkelen bygger på data fra en ny spørreundersøkelse i norske fylkesadministrasjoner (N = 893), og viser hvordan fylkesadministrasjonene under visse betingelser kan opptre med to eller flere «hatter», det vil si at beslutningene som treffes influeres av flere eksterne aktører samtidig. Hovedtyngden av respondentene oppgir nasjonale sentraladministrative instanser som den viktigste relasjonen, samtidig som en betydelig andel også oppgir at EU/EØS-institusjoner har betydning når sentrale beslutninger treffes. Mønstrene som avdekkes forklares ved fylkesadministrasjonenes organisatoriske spesialisering og administrative kapasitet. ; This article examines whether respondents in Norwegian county administrations perceive that key decisions are influenced by external actors - through vertical administrative relations to central administrative bodies and EU/EEA institutions, as well as horizontal administrative relations to other county administrations - and how the variation in such relations can be explained. The article is based on data from a new survey in Norwegian county administrations (N = 893), and shows how the county administrations under certain conditions can act with two or more "hats", ie that the decisions made are influenced by several external actors simultaneously. The majority of the respondents consider national central administrative bodies as the most important external actors, while a significant proportion also state that EU/EEA institutions are important when central decisions are made. The patterns that are revealed are explained by the county administrations' organizational specialization and administrative capacity. ; Denne artikkelen undersøker hvorvidt respondenter i norske fylkesadministrasjoner oppfatter at sentrale beslutninger influeres av eksterne aktører – gjennom vertikale relasjoner til sentraladministrative instanser og EU/EØS-institusjoner, samt horisontale relasjoner til andre fylkesadministrasjoner – og hvordan variasjonen i slike relasjoner kan forklares. Artikkelen bygger på data fra en ny spørreundersøkelse i norske fylkesadministrasjoner (N = 893), og viser hvordan fylkesadministrasjonene under visse betingelser kan opptre med to eller flere «hatter», det vil si at beslutningene som treffes influeres av flere eksterne aktører samtidig. Hovedtyngden av respondentene oppgir nasjonale sentraladministrative instanser som den viktigste relasjonen, samtidig som en betydelig andel også oppgir at EU/EØS-institusjoner har betydning når sentrale beslutninger treffes. Mønstrene som avdekkes forklares ved fylkesadministrasjonenes organisatoriske spesialisering og administrative kapasitet. ; Denne artikkelen undersøker hvorvidt respondenter i norske fylkesadministrasjoner oppfatter at sentrale beslutninger influeres av eksterne aktører – gjennom vertikale relasjoner til sentraladministrative instanser og EU/EØS-institusjoner, samt horisontale relasjoner til andre fylkesadministrasjoner – og hvordan variasjonen i slike relasjoner kan forklares. Artikkelen bygger på data fra en ny spørreundersøkelse i norske fylkesadministrasjoner (N = 893), og viser hvordan fylkesadministrasjonene under visse betingelser kan opptre med to eller flere «hatter», det vil si at beslutningene som treffes influeres av flere eksterne aktører samtidig. Hovedtyngden av respondentene oppgir nasjonale sentraladministrative instanser som den viktigste relasjonen, samtidig som en betydelig andel også oppgir at EU/EØS-institusjoner har betydning når sentrale beslutninger treffes. Mønstrene som avdekkes forklares ved fylkesadministrasjonenes organisatoriske spesialisering og administrative kapasitet.

U okviru rada je detaljno analizirana politička delatnost srpskih pristalica ugarske vlade u užoj Ugarskoj od Austro-ugarske nagodbe 1867. do poraza Slobodoumne stranke na izborima 1905. Nastankom nagodbenog pravnog okvira ugarska politička elita je smatrala da su se stekli uslovi da se odredi da u Ugarskoj postoji samo jedna politička nacija. Predvodnici nemađarskog stanovništva su trebali da odluče da li da pokušaju da izdejstvuju što bolji položaj za svoju naciju unutar vladajuće političke stranke ili da se posvete nacionalnoj i državno-pravnoj opoziciji. Deo srpske inteligencije je smatrao da državno-pravna opozicija može više da šteti srpskim nacionalnim i kulturno-prosvetnim interesima nego da bude od koristi. Oni nisu osnovali zasebnu političku stranku već su pristali uz stranke Ferenca Deaka i Kalmana Tise, koje su se 1875. ujedinile u Slobodoumnu stranku. Pored Ugarskog sabora, oni su delovali i unutar ugarskih municipija, kao i u sklopu srpske crkveno-narodne autonomije. ; In this paper are, in detail, analyzed the political activities of Serbian supporters of the Hungarian government in Hungary proper from the Austro-Hungarian Compromise in 1867 to the defeat of Liberal Party in the 1905 elections. With the setup of the compromise legal framework, Hungarian political elite considered conditions had been met in order to declare that there was only one political nation in Hungary. Leaders of non-Hungarian population were supposed to decide whether to try to force a better position for their nation within the ruling political party or to commit themselves to national and legal-state opposition. However, part of the Serbian intelligence believed that state-legal opposition could no longer be regarded as useful to Serbian national, cultural and educational interests. This is why they have not formed a separate political party but they acted within the parties of Ferenc Deak and Kalman Tisza, which were united into Liberal Party in 1875. Apart from the Hungarian Parliament, they were also acting within the Hungarian municipalities, as well as within the Serbian church-national autonomy.

This work is aimed at analysing the factors imposing limitations on the legislative function of parliament in the modern constitutional state. The legislative function has clearly been loosing its initial quality of the original and exclusive parliamentary function, because there is a number of legal and political limitations: the judicial review by the constitutional court; the role of the government in the legislative process; the internal organization of parliament, as well as the position of a member of parliament in the parliamentary groups. The constitutional court, through its interactive relation with parliament, has specific task to have a retroactive influence on the lawmakers. The strong domination of the government over the legislative activity expressed through the legislative initiative, an influence on the order of priorities in decision-making processes, to participate in discussions without any limitations and to eventually influence the outcome of the decision-making process using the motion of censure as a means of exerting pressure on the members of parliament, especially those belonging to the parliamentary majority. Taking into account the range and the strength of the impact that the parliamentary committees have, parliaments could be divided into 'the working assemblies' and 'the talking assemblies'. Finally, the nature of the parliamentary mandate (an MP's term of office) is no longer related to certain traditional values of the representative democracy. The significance and the character of the term of office are adjusted to the political framework of parliament in a contemporary constitutional state. It is the question of the relation between the people represented and the ones who represent them. .

Effectiveness of the administrative system as a whole depends on the quality of its organization. The Organizational structure reflects functional dynamic of the public administration. On the other hand, functional requirements of efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative system determine organizational forms. The scope, character and nature of administrative actions require optimal and coordinated external (macro-organization) and internal (micro-organization) organizational structure, which will allow optimal functioning of an administrative system. Therefore, the organizational structure is not immutable category, because tasks and roles, activities and goals, are changing in the same government system and sometimes even the whole system, so it is necessary to change the administrative organization. Administrative organization is systemic (external and internal) open dynamic structure of state government agencies and other bodies and organizations with public (administrative) powers prescribed in the course of lawful relationships of dynamic interaction, based on the hierarchy or coordination, depending on the nature and objectives of administrative tasks. Current organization of the state administration has not been made according to the principles of modern management. It is a result of the political spoils system, and reflects the need for political control of the administrative departments. It lacks functional analysis and expert approach.

In this chapter we discuss what we have conceptualized as "the paradox of democracy", pointing to the conflict between the idea of the sovereign people on one side, and the idea that democracies need representatives and political leaders, on the other. The chapter gives an overview of democratic arrangements that encourage direct participation, including arrangements that feed into and support and arrangements that challenge the representative system. Furthermore, the chapter provides examples of arrangements that actively and intentionally link together representation and direct participation. Lastly, we discuss how the tension between participatory practices and representative democracy can be solved. In a brief and subsequent chapter, a Norwegian Mayor reflects on the conflict between representation and direct participation.

After the end of the Cold War, civil defense was transformed into civil protection. This part of the state structure moved from the armed forces to the civilian sector. There are two reasons. First, direct threat of nuclear war was eliminated and the other reason were climate changes caused by natural disasters on a large scale. Today's civilan protection is organized in order to protect life and property in the event of a disaster caused by nature or man. End of the Cold War influenced the transformation of the social system in Poland. This was also reflected in the field of civil protection in this country. In Poland many sectors of civil society are now directly or indirectly involved in the system of civil protection. This was largely contributed by the decentralization of the state system, which allowed greater involvement of different actors in the system of civil protection. Decentralization has enabled a more efficient division of responsibility in case of emergencies. Regardless of the differences in size of territory and population, Poland has gone through similar challenges in transformation of the state and civil protection system like other new states of the European Union. This is especially important if we look other states of the former Warsaw Pact. Beside aforementioned transformation, Poland needed to eliminate communist legacy in many areas of society. This was precondition for stabilization and modernization of the state system. After that, Poland could put more effort in the reform of other areas of political, economic and social organization, which included area of civil protection.

Political, economic, social and environmental changes that accompany the development of the modern world, encourage states to implement changes in the security field. One of these countries is the Netherlands, which reformed its system of public security by introducing safety regions. The safety regions represent a new form of organization in the field of emergency and disaster. They are not a new level of local government but rather a new form of public policy that involves all levels of the system of local self-government. Therefore, the mentioned regions have a direct impact on the establishment of a new form of organization of functioning of the local self-government, and their responsibilities in relation to emergency situations. This particularly applies to their powers regarding the fire brigades. The safety regions directly result in the reduction of municipal competencies and enlarge the jurisdiction of the region in preparations and actions in case of emergencies. However, it is the firefighting units that constitute the backbone of the preparation and response to emergencies. The main tasks of these units have not been changed by introducing safety regions, but there has been a shift in their management and directing their wider duties.

Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC), as a form of decentralized implementation of public services and as a part of the local government system, is seen as a means to ensure balanced regional development, better quality of public services, as well as a way to adjust the needs of government organization to the needs of a society, with respect to its structural characteristics and needs. In this paper, the basic forms of inter-municipal cooperation, subjects of cooperation, ways in which the cooperation operates, areas in which the cooperation is achieved, nature of the jurisdiction, financing and management methods, affecting factors, and the specific advantages and disadvantages of this form of decentralized implementation of public services are specified, through the analysis of relevant international documents from this field, experiences and practices from different European countries, as well as normative frameworks and practices of inter-municipal cooperation in Serbia. Bearing in mind that the practice of inter-municipal cooperation has not sufficiently come to life in Serbia, and that there is a number of questions related to it and to the other aspects of decentralization, this research is intended to boost the intensive progress of inter-municipal cooperation in Serbia, as a means to improve the decentralization of public services, and also to overcome the problems local governments are facing. The author finds that, unlike alternative solutions, inter-municipal cooperation preserves local autonomy, strengthening the capacity at the local level and ensuring the implementation of territorial reforms that are conducted "from below", according to the needs of the citizens. Inter-municipal cooperation, regardless of its form, is a type of decentralized implementation of public services. Although it is suspected that the certain form of concentration is achieved through integrated forms of cooperation, these tasks are still performed within a level that is not central; the state does not take any additional role, which would reduce the degree of independence of the entities that are not central, i.e. reduce the decentralized character of these services, or which would strengthen the centralizing tendencies of the state or strengthen state control. In Europe, you can see many examples of very effective cooperation, which has proved to be a solution not just for many structural problems of local government, but also for the vertical government organization in general. IMC provided the solutions that alternatively required radical changes in the territorial organization. Also, IMC proved to be a mechanism that provided regional policy, development goals, public-private partnerships and territorial harmonization. The existing legislative framework of inter-municipal cooperation in Serbia mainly emphasizes voluntary cooperation of individual local governments, without a hint of a widespread or better controlled integration. Apart from the fact that the obligatory cooperation is only an exception, even some of the fundamental questions of its establishment and implementation are not regulated. The need for cooperation consists mainly in providing the regional services and equitable development, in overcoming the limitations, as well as in the more adequate use of local capacities. However, the regulatory framework does not provide a reliable basis for the establishment of high quality, durable and effective partnerships. Given the existence of asymmetric decentralization, one-level local governments, uneven capacities, as well as the development of decentralized units in Serbia, some of the solutions of inter-municipal cooperation can be considered a means of ensuring regional requirements in countries that are characterized by similar solutions, i.e. problems, without any change in the constitutional concept of decentralization. The main areas where the promotion of decentralized systems can be established are regional and spatial development planning, public utility services, tourism, civil and environment protection services, local governments and so on.

Property tax is a local income, which is applied in all modern tax systems. It is a part of direct taxes with personal income tax and corporate income tax. Property tax has a low level of the abundance, but it is represent one of the most important tax form. Presenting the institutional and legal framework and individual findings on the fiscal importance of the property tax, the aim is to emphasize the great importance of this tax levy in the tax system of the Republic of Serbia, especially under the influence of fiscal decentralization and give recommendations for local government revenue to become more plenteous and more efficient. Taxpayers' respect for the legislation, greater coverage of taxpayers and objects of taxation are just some of the ways that will contribute to the improvement of property taxation in Republic of Serbia. ; Porez na imovinu je lokalni prihod koji se primenjuje u svim savremenim poreskim sistemima. Pripada grupi direktnih poreza zajedno sa porezom na dohodak građana i porezom na dobit preduzeća. On se karakteriše niskom izdašnošću, ali bez obzira na to, predstavlјa jedan od najznačajnijih poreskih oblika. Prikazom institucionalnog i pravnog okvira i pojedinih nalaza o fiskalnom značaju poreza na imovinu, cilј ovog rada je ukazati na veliki značaj ovog fiskaliteta u poreskom sistemu Republike Srbije, naročito pod uticajem fiskalne decentralizacije. Takođe, neophodno je dati preporuke za povećanje izdašnosti i efikasnosti ovog poreza. Poštovanje zakonske regulative od strane poreskih obveznika, veći obuhvat poreskih obveznika i predmeta oporezivanja samo su neki od načina koji će doprineti unapređenju oporezivanja imovine u Republici Srbiji.

Centralna hipoteza koja se kroz ovaj rad analizirala jeste da li municipalne obveznice mogu biti instrument lokalnog ekonomskog razvoja. Ovo pitanje je od velikog značaja imajući u vidu da u procesu pridruživanja Srbije Evropskoj Uniji, lokalna samouprava će imati puno obaveza u svojoj nadležnosti, a vrednost projekata koje bi lokalne samouprave na putu ka Evropskoj Uniji trebale da finansiraju (samostalno ili u saradnji sa donatorima, centralnim nivoom vlasti, privatnim sektorom.) se procenjuje na između 3 i 5 milijardi evra. Dosadašnji pristup finansiranju investicionih projekata svakako neće biti dovoljan da se izađe u susret gore pomenutim zahtevima, pa je i glavna tema ovog rada šta lokalne samouprave treba da učine da bi kvalitativno unapredile proces finansiranja investicionih projekata u njihovoj nadležnosti. Sa nekih 15% budžetske potrošnje na lokalnom nivou, Srbija spada u red srednje decentralizovanih zemalja (prosek za OECD članice je 21%), ali po drugom pokazatelju, broju zaposlenih na lokalnom nivou, Srbija spada u grupu izrazito centralizovanih zemalja sveta (16% državne administracije je zaposleno na lokalnom nivou, a 84% na centralnom nivou). Uvođenjem programske klasifikacije budžeta kao obaveznog dela odluke o budžetu za 2015. godinu, stvorili su se uslovi za povećanje transparentnosti rada lokalne samouprave u Srbiji, a samim tim i za povećanje njenih nadležnosti i njene samostalnosti. Za bolju i efikasniju lokalnu vlast direktan izbor gradonačelnika (predsednika opštine) čini se kao dobro rešenje. Ovaj model lokalne vlasti se uspešno primenjuje i u razvijenim zemljama sveta i u zemljama u regionu, a i Srbija ga je imala u periodu od 2002. do 2007. godine. Srbija spada u red relativno samostalnih lokalnih samouprava koje samostalno ubiraju oko 30% svojih prihoda (izvorni prihodi), dok ustupljeni prihodi čine još oko 50% njihovih budžeta. Kako bi se napravili dalji koraci u jačanju samostalnosti lokalne samouprave u Srbiji, neki prihodi bi mogli da iz kategorije ustupljenih pređu u kategoriju izvornih prihoda (porez na prenos apsolutnih prava i porez na nasleđe i poklon, kao i porez na dohodak građana), ili da iz kategorije prihoda centralne vlasti pređu u nadležnost lokalne samouprave (porez na dobit preduzeća). Efikasnost lokalne samouprave u procesu planiranja i izvršenja budžeta i investicija ima dosta prostora za unapređenje, a slična situacija je i sa zaduživanjem. ; The central hypothesis that the author in this paper tried to confirm is whether municipal bonds can be an instrument for local economic development. This issue is of great importance given the fact that the process of joining the Serbia to European Union, the local governments will have a lot of obligations under their jurisdiction, and the value of projects that local governments should finance (independently or in cooperation with donors, central level of government, the private sector .) on the path towards the European Union is estimated on 3 to 5 billion euros. The current approach to financing investment projects will certainly not be sufficient to meet the above mentioned requirements and the main theme of this paper is what local governments should do to qualitatively improve the process of financing investment projects in their jurisdiction. With around 15% of budget spending at the local level, Serbia is categorized as middle decentralized country (the average for OECD member states is 21%), but according to the second indicator, the number of employees at the local level, Serbia belongs to the group of highly centralized countries in the world (16% of the state administration is employed at the local level, and 84% at the central level). With the introduction of a program classification of the budget as a mandatory part of the Budget decision for 2015, conditions for increase of the transparency of local selfgovernment in Serbia were created, providing the conditions for increase of local selfgovernment authority and independence. For better and more effective local government, the direct election of the mayor (municipal president) seems like a good solution. This model of local government is successfully applied in developed countries and countries in the region, while Serbia had this set up from 2002 to 2007. Serbia is one of the countries with relatively autonomous local governments that independently collect about 30% of its revenues (original/own revenues), while shared revenues are about 50% of their budgets. In order to make further steps in the process of strengthening the autonomy of local selfgovernments in Serbia, some revenues could be transferred from the category of shared into the category of own revenues (tax on transfer of absolute rights and taxes on inheritance and gifts, as well as personal income tax), or from the category of central government revenues to the jurisdiction of local self-governments (corporate income tax).

The institutional collapse of a once unique state SFR Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990s, devastated economy, hyperinflation, corruption and general tendencies contrary to the processes in developed countries, in a nutshell - the entire macroeconomic environment being unstable, - brought about the need for political, economic, social and institutional reforms in the Republic of Serbia. The reform, among other things, and for the study of the factual issues it is exceptionally significant, covered the system of resource distribution and jurisdiction between the central and subcentral levels of government. Numerous changes which then occurred in the last twenty years or so, and which are still going on, have influenced political and territorial polity of our country to become decentralized, as well as the financial and fiscal relations between the levels of the Establishment. In the spirit of reform commitments, Republic of Serbia brought in a new Constitution and adopted copious amounts of laws, whose ultimate intention was promoting the fiscal system that would be in accordance with the latest theoretical findings and examples of good practice. In the structure of territorial organization of Republic of Serbia, autonomous provinces as entities of territorial autonomy, and municipalities, towns and the city of Belgrade have been established, as entities of local self-governance. Otherwise, subcentral authority levels in our country are facing many and various challenges when it comes to creating government revenue which, in its original or transferred form, remains available, used to finance their government expenditure, a constant need for their abundance and suitability, and all in order to constitute financial autonomy, followed by methods of governing the economic development, as well as the volume and content of jurisdiction. Considering the fact that the distribution of resources amongst sub-central levels of government is preceded by the distribution of responsibilities, associated is the dilemma of which functions are realized more efficiently on a central and which on a subcentral level of government, and further, to what extent these lower levels are to be subservient to the central state, that is, in what sense independent. In that matter, it is essential to establish the extent of the realized fiscal decentralization, since depending on that degree, fiscal power is delegated to subcentral levels, the performance of public services is more efficient and is in accordance with priorities and preferences of citizens, which is also a precondition of successful functioning of all the segments of the public sector and widespread democratization of a society.