Historický vývoj vzťahu sídelných spoločenstiev a obecnej samosprávy na Slovensku
Historical Development of the Relations Between Settlement Communities and Municipal Self-Government in Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents a historical-social analysis of settlement self-government in Slovakia in relation to development of settlement communities. It is based on the author's review of numerous historical studies of public administration and se lf-government bodies that cover nearly a one thousand year period. The paper summarises historical knowledge about self-government traditions in Slovakia and tries to identify socio-cultural characteristics of settlement communities and the public culture which shaped them. Historical continuity of se lf-government of settlement communities creates some habits, form s and patterns of cohabitation of a large number of people in their municipality, it shapes the social characteristics of communities and of common culture. Local social memory that preserves generation experiences, traditions and local culture, are important factors in the process of shaping local communities and their self-governments. The paper starts with a description of the beginnings of the government and self-government of settlement communities on the territory of Slovakia. It explains the historical context of development of municipal self-government and differentiating characteristics of settlement communities in the Middle Ages. The paper describes internal structure of the county se lf-government and functions of its bodies. It pays special attention to the relation between the character of municipal self-government in Medieval towns and villages, and social structure of settlement communities. The paper then describes the next important stage in the development of the administration organization of Slovakia, represented by the nineteenth century public administration reforms. A new stage occured in the revolutionary year of 1848, that secured accessibility of the selfgoverning bodies to non-gentry, to representatives of towns and villages and those who owned some property prescribed by law. Paper presents and compares the characteristics of self-government bodies and self-government institutions under the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and in the period of the first Czechoslovak Republic. On the basis of the preceeding comparative analysis, the author suggests that certain characteristics of historical development of settlement communities and settlement se lf-government seem to represent elements of traditionality of Slovak territorial communities, for instance; strong social control in the local community, trust in local authorities, the existence of municipal property and strict rules for its use, local solidarity strenghtened by extensive self-help activities. The next part of the study is devoted to the communist period. A three-level system of national committees corresponding to the village-district-county structure was introduced under the Act of 1948 as an instrument of a bureaucratic-centralist system of state administration which reduced local activities and self-government of municipalities to a minimum and preferred

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