Powiat i gmina jako współgospodarze miejsca publicznego. Konstrukcja prawnoustrojowa, formy prawne współdziałania i kierunki reformowania układu jednostek samorządu lokalnego w Polsce

Abstract

In the 1990s in Poland a reform of local administration was implemented. As a result of this
reform, territorial division of the country was from now on of a three-stage nature, with
local government units on each of the mentioned stages. Local government encompasses
municipalities and counties, whereas regional government encompasses voivodeships. Local
government in general is nonhierarchical as each unit’s independence is protected by law. By
introducing such a division into two levels of local government an inefficient, problematic and
halting local development system was created, through which the managing of local public
space became scattered. Its structure goes against the Polish and the European tradition
of forming local government, as well as against currents in local government changes in
modern European countries. The system was criticized even before its final implementation.
Numerous empirical studies and systemic-legal analysis prove its irrationality. Over 15 years
of functioning of said division point to the need of another reform.