Funkcjonowanie samorządu lokalnego we współczesnym państwie niedemokratycznym. Przykład Republiki Białoruś w latach 1991-2019
Functioning of Local Self-Government in the Contemporary Non-Democratic State. The Case of the Republic of Belarus in 1991-2019

Summary/Abstract: The following study is devoted to the changes in the model of local self-government in contemporary Belarus after gaining independence in 1991. The paper’s goals are twofold: to present theory regarding decentralisation in the authoritarian states and confront it with modern Belarus. The paper’s central thesis is that there were three consecutive periods of the evolution of local self-government. Those were periods of (1) limited decentralisation, (2) re-centralisation being the result of authoritarian tendencies in Belarusian politics, and (3) optimisation within the current model. In fact, throughout all these periods, the local self-government was only a kind of facade having no control over the executive bodies. Reforms introduced between 1996 and 2014 have not changed the overwhelming control power of the central authorities over the local institutions. In the last part of the article, the author puts forth his remarks regarding crucial reforms needed in local self-government.

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