Przedmiotem analizy w artykule jest uchwalona przez Sejm RP 11 stycznia 2018 r. zmiana dotycząca kwestii ograniczenia możliwości kandydowania na wójta (burmistrza, prezydenta miasta) do dwóch kadencji, wprowadzona w Kodeksie wyborczym. Celem artykułu jest odniesienie się do przywoływanych różnych racji przemawiających za, jak i przeciwko m.in. takiemu rozwiązaniu, głównie natury czysto prawnej.

Local governence jako mechanizm współrządzenia w samorządzie terytorialnym może stać się skutecznym narzędziem wspierającym efektywność i jakość procesów decyzyjnych. Za jego jedną z form może być uznany budżet obywatelski (partycypacyjny), który od kilku lat jest wdrażany w Polsce. Celem artykułu jest przeanalizowanie budżetu obywatelskiego na przykładzie miasta Katowice pod kątem wpływu, jaki ma on na podnoszenie efektywności zarządzania gminą. Czy dzięki jego zastosowaniu rozwija się świadomość i zaangażowanie mieszkańców w sprawy lokalne. W artykule przedstawiono oprócz danych ogólnodostępnych wyniki badań własnych autora, przeprowadzanych w jednej z dzielnic miasta.

Change of rules of constituency creation for local government elections in the Election Code Amendment of 2018

The article presents changes of rules of constituency creation. Purposefulness of the analysis occurred due to the Election Code Amendment of 2018. Changes introduced by the Amendment are very thorough and, at their final stage, will take away communes’ right to create the constituencies, since according to the act of 11 January 2018, since 1 January 2019 right of division of local government units into constituencies and of making changes in this area will become a sole competency of a Election Committee Head. The article also analyses the created legal circumstances in regards to their constitutionality.

The European region as a form of territorial division of the European Union

The aspirations to develop cooperation within the European Union with partners at the regional level result from the considerable diversification of national legal systems and procedures and the resulting significant difficulties in the conduct and management of cooperation activities. An impulse to deepen the role of the region was the implementation of Structural Fund programs. Voivodships as regions are candidates for the role of the third participant of the EU agreement creating a new three-level system: the community – the state – the region. To participate in this role they must actively work to strengthen their position on the European forum, in particular in the bodies where are creating regional policy. An opportunity for the regions is the development of the European Union’s regional policy, the aim of which is to reduce the differences in local development and eliminate areas of poverty and backwardness. The article presents legal aspects related to the definition of “the region” under Polish law. It also presents the advantages of the Polish voivodship at the EU forum and possible forms of impact on the implemented EU policy.

The Use of Censuses in Elections to Constitutive Bodies of Local Government Units

The basic issue when determining the principle of universal suffrage is to indicate the group of people who shall have the right to vote. However, it may be restricted by suffrage censuses. The 21st century brought the significant challenges in determining entities that can benefit from the electoral rights, also in the elections to constitutive entities of local government units. It should be remembered that the world is still subject to the numerous processes of change. Therefore, the electoral law cannot be indifferent to it but should be adjusted by the legislator to the changing conditions in which given individuals function. The author of this study has analyzed existing legal solutions and is trying to answer the question of whether current regulations can be considered optimal, or whether there is a need for a new definition of constraints on electoral law, in the context of globalization processes that result in much more frequent and easier movement of people, and associated with this mixing of citizens of individual countries, or residents of the local government units of territorial units.

The subject of the article is an analysis of the possibility of holding the function of a commune head (mayor, city president) in the light of the generally applicable law in Poland by a person convicted of public prosecution with a fine.

When criticizing the principles of liberal democracy, radical parties, both leftand right, take advantage of this particular type of democracy by participating in local and nationwide elections. They take part in each subsequent election under their flag or by putting up candidates on the lists of other electoral committees. The major aim of the parties when participating in elections is to promote their political appeal and reaching the biggest number of local communities possible. Under the mechanisms of local democracy, including local government elections, radical parties can join in the decision-making system by investing relatively little resources.

Self-Government And Decentralisation In The Political Thought Of Hans-Hermann Hoppe

The aim of this article is to reconstruct and analyse the ideas of self-government and decentralisation present in the thought of a leading representative of anarcho-capitalist libertarianism, Hans-Hermann Hoppe. In the previous research on the history of political thought concerning local government, there is no study that would concern the attitude of libertarianism to local communities. In the study of libertarianism, in turn, as well as in libertarian thought itself, the issues of self-government, decentralisation or local government are rather a side issue, absent in the course of the main considerations. The counter-intuitive nature of libertarianism as a doctrine that advocates an anarcho-capitalist order, which excludes the existence of state institutions, also argues in favour of addressing the title topic. Contrasting the anarcho-capitalist view of self-government and decentralisation with the contemporary dominant understanding of local government may contribute to enriching the discussion within normative local government theory with new conclusions and perspectives. This article, due to the limited scope of the research, is only a contribution to further studies on the problem of self-government and decentralisation in libertarian thought.

THE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM OF LOCAL REFERENDA ON THE POSITION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES IN POLAND

The article is an attempt to assess the potential effects of the changes to the Local Referendum Act currently being processed by the Sejm of the 9th term, and proposed by the circles associated with the Kukiz’15 party. The authors focused on the changes concerning referenda on revoking the authority of a local government unit, with regard to: changing the number of signatures required to order a referendum from 10% to 5% (in the case of commune and poviat authorities) and from 5% to 2.5% (in the case of voivodship authorities) and lowering the referendum validity threshold to 15% (in the case of decision-making authorities), and 3/5 of the number of votes cast for the incumbent mayor/president of the city. The hypotheses of a significant facilitation in the organization of referenda and in the dismissal of both the legislative and executive authorities of the local government were verified.