Legal Grounds for Forming and Altering the Basic Territorial Division of the State

Abstract

The issue of territorial division of a state has been subject of the science of administrative law for years. The aim of territorial division is to introduce certain order in human activity in a given area. This refers in particular to general territorial division, which has most significance and plays the most important role in functioning of state and society. Thus, the issue of legal regulations concerning the prerequisites for shaping this order and the conditions for making alterations to it remains topical. The author presents the issue of legal regulations regarding the premises this order and the conditions for its transformation as still topical and being rather a long-term process than a single undertaking. It stems from the tension present in the science of administrative law between assuming that the territorial division of the state should be characterised by relative stability, and the simultaneous projection of its alterations in the face of changing conditions forcing transformation in the functioning of public administration. The current model of the basic territorial division is based on the concept laid down in the Constitution of 2 April 1997, assuming that the territorial division of the state must take into account the social, economic or cultural ties, at the same time ensuring that the territorial units are capable of performing public tasks. Moreover, the formal criterion for alterations to the basic territorial system is introducing them by means of an Act. The paper also presents the modern tendency to change the perspective and gradual, however constant, move from the analysis of the territorial division of the state as an element of effectiveness of public administration to the emphasis of the significance of territorial division as the real framework of local and regional self-governance and the areas of social activity.