Development and current state of local government systems in the selected post-communist countries

Abstract

Since the fall of the Communist parties' regimes, the Central/South-East Europe countries have, inter alia, tried to reorganize their local government systems in the manner that would be closer to democratic principles or principles that were accepted in so called Western Europe. A comparative analysis of this article is focused on local government systems which have been introduced in the Czech Republic, FYR of Macedonia, Slovakia and Slovenia and, within this context, especially on positions of the political representatives, who are elected at the local levels in these countries. Due to similar socio-political and economic history of these countries in the 20th century as well as due to their efforts to become members of the European Union, it is possible to assume that they have introduced similar local government systems. However, as stressed in the article, similar ideas and comparable ways of their implementation may produce different outcomes in different environments. Thus, despite the fact that the processes, which should lead to their achievement, were often supported by various international organizations and despite a manifested desire of the selected countries to join the EU, they have introduced significantly different local government systems.