25 Years of Local Democracy in Central-Eastern Europe

Abstract

Local government system has been re-introduced in countries of Central and Eastern Europe together with political turn-over after the collapse of communist system at the beginning of 1990s. The establishment of local democracy was one of the most important element of democratization. More than 25 years after first local elections were held in new democracies (May 1990 in Poland, autumn 1990 in Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, etc.), the developments of local democracy can be reflected, assessed and generalized. Should we still refer to “transition” in a description of the CEE local democracies or 25 years is a period long enough to talk about stable, mature systems of local democracy? If the latter is true, what are the main features of that system, and what are similarities and dissimilarities among countries of the region? What is the current agenda of top-down and bottom-up reforms of local democracies? To what extent heritage of pre-1990 system is still referred to in the contemporary discussions of decentralization and local governments? The panel welcomes papers studying the dynamics and outcomes of decentralization and institutional reforms transforming local governments in countries of CE Europe (e.g. direct election of mayors, electoral reforms, roles of local executives and elected representatives, introduction of participatory procedures, changing roles of political parties in local governance).

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