Abstract
The chapter discusses development of sub-municipal units (SMUs) in Poland after the 1990 decentralization reform. It discussed major elements of legal setting and variation of local policies toward SMUs. It stresses the difference in the position of SMUs in rural areas and in urban setting. The difference is related to two factors: (1) depth of historical traditions, (2) support of the central level (rural SMU receives support from the central budget through Village Fund, while such a support is absent in case of urban SMUs). Presently Polish SMUs play only marginal role in local politics and in provision of local public services, and their role in invigorating local democracy is also very limited. This chapter discusses factors behind the variation of the position of SMUs in different cities.
Notes
- 1.
The only exception to this rule is 2002 Law on Local Government in Warsaw Capital City which imposes the creation of 18 SMU and stipulates basic rules related to the relationship between city level and SMUs. However, this specific case is not furhter discussed in this chapter.
- 2.
In 1991 the Association was formed in one of the Polish regions, and in 1994 it was transformed into a nation-wide organization, consisting of a federation of 14 regional associations (there are 16 regions in Poland, so two regions—Łódź and Warmia-Mazury—do not have their representation in the National Association).
- 3.
1989–1993, 1997–2005 and 2007–2015.
- 4.
It is half of proportion for municipal mayors but several times more than among average citizens.
- 5.
After the 2014 election the proportion of female councilors in rural local governments in Poland is 27% and among rural mayors it is just over 10% (own calculations based on National Electoral Committee data).
- 6.
For a more comprehensive discussion of the Poznań reform see chapter 8 in Swianiewicz et al. (2013).
- 7.
In the recent study by Stradomski (2016) there is an analysis of the turn-out in SMU elections in 22 cities with population between 50 and 150,000. He finds out the huge variation (from 1% to 40%), but a typical turn-out, has been low similar to that in the largest cities.
- 8.
It should be mentioned however, that in cities in which sub-municipal councils operate on only part of the city territory, we calculated the average turn-out by dividing the number of actual active voters by the total number of eligible voters in the whole city. The justification of this method is the fact that sub-municipal councils are usually not created (so elections do not take place) in those parts of the city in which bottom-up interest in the creation of the neighborhood government structures was the lowest. An alternative method of taking into account the average from only a few of the most active neighborhoods (in which elections took place) would result in an over-estimation of citizens’ interest in sub-municipal councils.
- 9.
In this part of analysis the budget spending of neighborhood councils plays a role of independent variable of the model.
- 10.
Measured here by an index composed on the basis of answers to several questions, related to citizens’ awareness of the existence of sub-municipal governments, knowledge of the names of neighborhood councilors and so on.
- 11.
For the discussions of the planned reform in Poznań see Swianiewicz et al. (2013).
References
Bäck, H., Gjelstrup, G., Helgessen, M., Johansson, F., & Klausen, J. E. (2005). Urban Political Decentralization: Six Scandinavian Cities. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Bäck, H., Johansson, F., & Larsen, H. (2000). Local Government in Nordic Big Cities. In G. Oskar, V. Hoffmann-Martinot, & H. Savitch (Eds.), Urban Democracy (pp. 31–72). Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Bačlija, I., & Haček, M. (2009). Political Perception of Urban Sub-Local Entities: A Comparison of Studies from Ljubljana and Swedish Cities. Khamasin, Jorunal of American University in Cairo, 3, 34–47.
Bil, M. (2014). Fundusz sołecki w gminach w latach 2010–2012: analiza finansowa. MA dissertation, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw.
Blakeley, G. (2010). Governing Ourselves: Citizen Participation and Governance in Barcelona and Manchester. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 34(1), 130–145.
Bul, R., & Piątek, W. (2012). Prawne oraz terytorialne aspekty funkcjonowania gminnych jednostek pomocniczych w dużych miastach. Samorząd Terytorialny nr, 7–8, 82–93.
Daemen, H., & Schaap, L. (2012). Puzzles of Local Democracy. In L. Schaap & H. Daemen (Eds.), Renewal in European Local Democracies. Wiesbaden: Springer.
Dahl, R., & Tufte, E. R. (1973). Size and Democracy. Redwood City: Stanford University Press.
Denters, B. (2002). Size and Political Trust: Evidence from Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom. Government & Policy C: Environment and Planning, 20(6), 793–812.
Denters, B., & Klok, P.-J. (2005). The Netherlands: In Search of Responsiveness. In B. Denters & L. Rose (Eds.), Comparing Local Governance: Trends and Developments (pp. 65–82). London: Palgrave.
Denters, B., & Klok P.-J. (2013). Wijk- en dorpsraden in Europa. Unpublished manuscript, Enschede.
Derek, M., & Mielczarek, A. (2008). Polish sołectwo: A Latent Field for Rural Governance. In G. Peteri (Ed.), Mind Your Own Business: Community Governance in Rural Municipalities (pp. 79–130). Budapest: LGI/Open Society Institute.
Franke, T., & Löhr, R.-P. (2001). Neighborhood Management: A Key Instrument in Integrative Urban District Development. Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik.
Griggs, S., & Roberts, M. (2012). From Neighborhood Governance to Neighborhood Management: A Roll-Out Neo-Liberal Design for Devolved Governance in the United Kingdom? Local Government Studies, 38(2), 183–210.
Herbst, J. (2008). Kraina nieufności: kapitał społeczny, rozwój gospodarczy i sprawność instytucji publicznych w polskiej literaturze akademickiej. In P. Swianiewicz, J. Herbst, M. Lackowska, & A. Mielczarek (Eds.), Szafarze darów europejskich: kapitał społeczny a realizacja polityki regionalnej w polskich województwach. Warszawa: Scholar.
Kjær, U. (2012). Local Politics: Incubator or Respirator for Political Parties? In J. Blom-Hansen, C. Green-Pedersen, & S.-E. Skaaning (Eds.), Democracy, Elections, and Political Parties. Essays in Honour of Jørgen Elklit (pp. 201–209). Aarhus: Politica.
Lowndes, V., & Sullivan, H. (2008). How Low Can you Go? Rationales and Challenges for Neighborhood Governance. Public Administration, 86(1), 53–74.
Matczak, P. (2006). Czynniki podejmowania działalności w samorządach pomocniczych. Przykłady Poznania i Kalisza. In M. Nowak & M. Nowosielski (Eds.), Czy społeczny bezruch? Poznań: Instytut Zachodni.
Matczak, P. (2008). Rady osiedli: w poszukiwaniu sensu lokalnego działania. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
Matczak, P., & Kotnarowski, M. (2012). Jednostki pomocnicze samorządu: między obywatelem a władzą. In A. Olech (Ed.), Dyktat czy uczestnictwo? Diagnoza partycypacji publicznej w Polsce (pp. 211–233). Warszawa: Instytut Spraw Publicznych.
Matyjaszczyk, B. (2011). Jednostki pomocnicze- analiza uregulowań prawnych. Warszawa: Fundacja Pracownia Badań i Innowacji Społecznych “Stocznia”.
Peteri, G. (2008). Mind Your Own Business: Community Governance in Rural Municipalities. Budapest: LGI/Open Society Institute.
Piechota, G. (2013). Jednostki pomocnicze w strukturach zarządzania polską gminą (analiza funkcjonowania jednostek pomocniczych w śląskich miastach na prawach powiatu). Samorząd Terytorialny, 1, 21–35.
Podgórska-Rykała, J., & Cofur-Machura, E. (2012). Funkcjonowanie jednostek pomocniczych gminy w wybranych miastach województwa śląskiego. Katowice: Stowarzyszenie Wzajemnej Pomocy Bona Fides.
Ptak, A. (2016). Sołectwa w lokalnym systemie władzy. Warszawa: Scholar.
Putnam, R. D. (1976). The Comparative Study of Political Elites. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Quinn, B. (2012). A New Position for Civil Society and Citizens? In L. Schaap & H. Daemen (Eds.), Renewal in European Local Democracies (pp. 99–118). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Ringeling, A., Daemen, H., & Schaap, L. (2012). The Dynamics of Democratic Learning. In L. Schaap & H. Daemen (Eds.), Renewal in European Local Democracies (pp. 191–204). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Stradomski, F. (2016). Jednostki pomocnicze w miastach na prawach powiatu. MA dissertation, Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics, University of Wrocław.
Swianiewicz, P., Krukowska, J., Lackowska, M., & Kurniewicz, A. (2013). Błędne rondo marginalizacji? Jednostki pomocznicze w zarządzaniu wielkimi miastami w Polsce. Warszawa: Elipsa.
Van Asche, D., & Dierickx, G. (2007). The Decentralization of City Governments and the Restoration of Political Trust. Local Government Studies, 33(1), 25–47.
Van Ostaaijen, J., Gianoli Al, & Coulson An. (2012). The Added Value of Intra-Municipal Decentralization: Comapring Bologna, Rotterdam and Birmingham. In L. Schaap & H. Daemen (Eds.), Renewal in European Local Democracies (pp. 145–164). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Swianiewicz, P. (2018). New Experiments of Maintenance of Old Traditions? Dual System of Sub-municipal Units in Poland. In: Hlepas, NK., Kersting, N., Kuhlmann, S., Swianiewicz, P., Teles, F. (eds) Sub-Municipal Governance in Europe. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64725-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64725-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64724-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64725-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)