A comparative study of local self-government in the countries of Central / Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: degree of decentralization and potential correlation with causative factors

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the level of consolidation of the system of local self-governance in the selected post-socialist states of Central / Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, “as an accepted factor in the successful democratic society”. By the result of comparison of the countries on their record of governance system decentralization (as it is the way to decide on the degree to which local self-government is existent), it aims to give possible explanations for causal factors influencing observed differences among the countries. The central argument that will be tested in the paper is that the countries appearing to be the successors of former Soviet Republics should be more centralized than the countries that being part of the former Socialist block have not been part of the Soviet Union. The logic behind this argumentation is that the path dependency towards the centralized patterns of governance system should be stronger in the post-Soviet states, because of the tenser impact of this practice on them as on the immediate components of the nucleus of totalitarian rule.