CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES OF FUNCTIONING OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INTERWAR (1918–1939) POLAND
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2304-1587/2024-26-1(38)-4Keywords:
local self-government, self-government bodies, bourgeois constitutions, Second Polish RepublicAbstract
The article examines and compares the approaches to the basic principles of local self-government in the two Constitutions of the Second Polish Republic (the so-called March Constitution of March 17, 1921, and the April Constitution of April 23, 1935). We believe that a number of factors influenced the establishment of the self-government system established in the Constitution of 1921. These include the plurality of concepts of self-government in postwar Poland, which, in turn, were defended by different political forces. These factors also include the general processes of democratization of Polish society, which significantly contributed to the establishment of local self-government institutions and decentralization of power. The article analyzes the articles of the Constitution of 1921 devoted to the institution of self-government. It is emphasized that the processes of reforming the foundations of local self-government continued after the adoption of the Fundamental Law of the Second Polish Republic. Political circles discussed the need to approve separate legislation for specific decentralization steps. Such an "interim" act was the Law on Partial Change of the Territorial Self-Government System of 1933 and a number of other legislative acts. The April 1935 Constitution was a step backwards in terms of strengthening the principles of local self-government. The Fundamental Law was approved in the context of growing authoritarian tendencies in the political and legislative development of the Polish state. The creation and further development of self-government institutions in the Constitution were closely linked to centralized state institutions - they were supposed to create local self-government units, and supervisory bodies were established to limit the rule-making and executive activities of local governments. Thus, the constitutional foundations of local self-government in interwar Poland evolved from primitive democracy to "sanation" authoritarianism. The Constitution of 1921 expanded the powers of local governments (compared to the previous "Austrian" era). Instead, the 1935 Constitution significantly limited their role in public life, subordinating them to state institutions.
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