Theories of Metropolitan Government and the Post-socialist Experience: The Case of Poznań Metropolitan Area

Abstract

This paper, based on ongoing research in the Poznan metropolitan region, contrasts theoretical approaches to the issue of metropolitan governance in America and Western Europe with the practical experience of a post-socialist country – Poland – using examples from the Poznań Metropolitan Area. International comparative studies (e.g. Jouve and Lefèvre, Local power, territory and institutions in European metropolitan regions. Frank Cass, London, 2002, Herrschel and Newman, Governance of Europe’s city regions: planning, policy and politics. Routledge, London, 2002, Salet et al., Metropolitan governance and spatial planning. Comparative case studies of European city-regions. Spon Press, London, 2003, Heinelt and Kübler, Metropolitan governance. Capacity, democracy and the dynamics of place. Routledge, London, 2005) have shown that “place matters”. It is emphasised that the nation-specific “tradition” and character of administration are of importance to the metropolitan government model. The evolution of the territorial and administrative structures of the big cities and suburban areas in Poland is different from Western Europe and North America. Between 1950 and 1990, Poland has a monolithic state government system, in which the decentralisation principle did not apply. Reforms of 1990 and 1998 brought the model of territorial administration in Poland closer to European standards on the local and regional levels. However, these reforms took little consideration of issues related to the metropolitan, as opposed to the local or regional, scale in the country’s territorial and administrative structure. As a consequence, few formal institutions for metropolitan governance have been created, and metropolitan governance has been neglected. This has resulted in local inequalities in the quality and provision of services, and competition among local governments for inward investment and development, often causing adverse impacts at the metropolitan scale. In Poland, in 1990, an almost instant democratic breakthrough in the political system resulted in embracing the ideals of local government and the autonomy of communes. In Poland, the model of governance in metropolitan areas has been moving towards one of public choice, despite being limited by central government control which continues to be strong. The country’s socioeconomic development and advancing suburbanisation have created problems which can only be resolved on a metropolitan scale. The position of local governments in Poland is strong enough to make radical metropolitan reform socially and politically unlikely. At present, the only feasible solution appears to be the intensification of voluntary collaboration stimulated, perhaps, by small legislative changes at the national level. Nevertheless, as compared to the situation 20 years ago, the trend towards fragmentation has reversed. After a period in which local governments gained and secured their independence, now we are facing a stage of integration.