Vol.1, No 1, 1997 pp. 233 - 269
UDC: 352
LOCAL AND REGIONAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
IN A DEMOCRATIC THEORY
Vojislav Stanovčić
Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade, Yugoslavia 
Abstract. This paper points to a great role the local self-government played in the development of the so-called civilian society and democracy and what its place in the democratic theory is, among the ideas developed in the reformation and in the processes of limiting and overgrowing political absolutism by means of revolutions, uprisings for liberation of people. It is shown that the sense of theories on "separation of power" was establishment of the checks and balance among the various branches and levels (local, regional, state). As the so-called horizontal separation of power was taken as a condition to guarantee freedoms and a hindrance to absolutism, so the local self-government in theory can be observed as an important element of the vertical separation of power serving the same purpose. The importance of the relations, even conflicts, political interests and political wills of parts and wholes were pointed out by the democratic thought. Among the basic differences between the democratic and despotic and authoritarian systems on the other hand, also included are the differences in relations of parts and the whole, narrower communities and the authorities in them towards the authorities of the wider communities. To estimate the character of the government and self-government system, the nature and the scope of the circle of competencies and its character (original or transferred) are taken, whether and how much the separation of competences is based upon the constitution and how much the self-government is implemented, that is, participation of the population and other subjects (of corporate type) in administering or electing rulers. An entire scale of possible relations from the mere deconcentrating or detachment of affairs up to confederalism is given and what place in that scale of forms belongs to the local and regional self-government; also pointed out are the differences between the Anglo-Saxon and the continental European system. A lot depends upon the fact whether the basic principle-goal is administrative efficiency or meeting the population needs (everyday life quality improvement). Supported are the ideas that a truly democratic power is essentially federal and polyarchic in its character, which means that each must have some circle of competences stipulated under the constitution and on the rule of law principle which cannot be arbitrarily changed by some higher authorities.
This paper points to great social, technological and political (state strengthening) changes that changed the character and position of the local communities in the categories given by the great European sociologists, as well as to the researches which dealt with stipulating the character of relations and decision making in the local communities, atomizing the society and manipulating the mass society within which lives a lonely crowd of people. A conclusion is drawn from this in favour of smaller communes within which everyday questions are resolved and larger units of the regional self-government.
Key words:  self-government, local community, rule of law, Serbia, regionalism

LOKALNA I REGIONALNA SAMOUPRAVA
U DEMOKRATSKOJ TEORIJI
Rad ukazuje na veliku ulogu koju je u razvitku tzv. civilnog društva i demokratije imala lokalna samouprava i kakvo je njeno mesto u demokratskoj teoriji, među idejama razvijenim u reformaciji i u procesima ograničavanja i prevazilaženja političkog apsolutizma, revolucijama, ustancima za narodno oslobođenje. Pokazuje se da je smisao teorija o "podeli vlasti" bio uspostavljanje uzajamne kontrole i ravnoteže (checks ana balance) između različitih grana i nivoa (lokalni, regionalni, državni). Kao što je tzv. horizontalna podela vlasti uzimana kao uslov za garantovanje sloboda i prepreka apsolutizmu, tako se i lokalna samouprava u teoriji može posmatrati kao važan elemenat vertikalne podele vlasti, koja služi istoj svrsi. Demokratska misao je isticala značaj odosa, pa i sukoba, političkih interesa i političkih volja delova i celine. Među osnovne razlike između demokratskih i s druge strane despotskih i autoritarnih sistema, uvrštavaju se i razlike u odnosima delova i celine, užih zajednica i organa vlasti u njima prema organima vlasti širih zajednica. Za procenjivanja karaktera sistema uprave i samouprave uzimaju se priroda i obim kruga nadležnosti i njen karakter (originerna i prenesena), da li je i koliko podela nadležnosti zasnovana na ustavu, i koliko se ostvaruje samouprava tj. učešće stanovništva i drugih subjekata (korporativnog tipa) u upravljanju ili biranju upravljača. Daje se čitava skala mogućih odnosa od puke dekoncentracije ili detaširanja poslova do konfederalizma i koje mesto u toj skali oblika pripada lokalnoj i regionalnoj samoupravi, a ukazuje se na razlike između anglosaksonskog i kontinentalnog evropskog sistema. Mnogo zavisi od toga da li je osnovni princip-cilj admi-nistra-tivna efikasnost ili zadovoljavanje potreba stanovništva (podizanju kvaliteta svakodnevnog života). Podržavaju se ideje da je istinski demokratska vlast bitno federalna i poliarhijska po svome karakteru, što podrazumeva da svako mora imati neki krug nadležnosti utvrđeni ustavom i na principu vladavine prava, koji ne može arbitrerno menjati neka viša vlast.
Ukazuje se na velike društvene, tehnološke i političke (jačanje države) promene koje su promenile karakter i položaj lokalnih zajednica u kategorijama koje su dali veliki evropski sociolozi, kao i na istraživanja koja su se bavila utvrđivanjem karaktera odnosa i odlučivanja u lokalnim zajednicama, atomizacijom društva i manipulisanjem masovnim društvom u kojem živi usamljena gomila ljudi. Iz ovoga se izvodi zaključak u prilog manjih opština u kojima se rešavaju svakodnevna pitanja i većih jedinica regionalne samouprave.
Ključne reči: samouprava, lokalna zajednica, vladavina prava, Srbija, regionalizam