Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
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Vol. 40, Nº 73 (2022), 454-467
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Decentralization as a global trend of
democracy development
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4073.24
Nadiia Babarykina *
Oleksandra Demianenko **
Yevhen Mahda ***
Abstract
This research examines the process of decentralization
of power as a global trend of democratization. The concept
of decentralization of power is revealed and the process of
implementation of the reform of decentralization of power
in some European countries is highlighted. The relationship
between the course of decentralization reform and the index of
democracy in countries has been studied. The aim of the research
is to identify and analyze the essence, features and experience
of decentralization as a global trend of democratization. The
realization of the goal requires the solution of the next task - to analyze
the experience of decentralization in the context of the development of
democracy in the European Union. The solution of research problems
became possible due to the use of a complex of general scientic and
special research methods. This analytical essay is based on documentary
sources. Аnalyzing the principles and results of decentralization of power
in European countries in the study we see the growth of democracy.
Decentralization causes a global shift in power, as the distance between
citizens and government institutions is reduced.
Keywords: decentralization; regional policy; democracy and citizenship;
civil society; public administration.
* PhD in Political Science, Associate Professor of the Department of General Legal and Political Sciences,
National University «Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic». ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6167-3693
** PhD in Political Science, Associate Professor of the Department of Public Administration and Political
Science, Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0003-4428-3981
*** PhD in Political Science, Associate Professor of the Department of Publishing and Editing of the
National Technical University of Ukraine «Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute». ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5792-8713
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Vol. 40 Nº 73 (2022): 454-467
La descentralización como tendencia global del
desarrollo de la democracia
Resumen
Este estudio examina el proceso de descentralización del poder
como una tendencia global de democratización. Se revela el concepto de
descentralización del poder y, al mismo tiempo, se destaca el proceso de
implementación de la reforma de descentralización del poder en algunos
países europeos. Se ha estudiado la relación entre el curso de la reforma
de la descentralización y el índice de democracia en algunos países. Mas
concretamente, el objetivo del estudio es identicar las características
y la experiencia de la descentralización como una tendencia global de la
democracia. La realización del objetivo implicó la solución de las siguientes
tareas: analizar la experiencia de la descentralización en el contexto
del desarrollo de la democracia en la Unión Europea. La solución de las
tareas de la investigación se hizo posible gracias al uso de un conjunto de
métodos de investigación cientícos generales y especiales: sistémicos,
estructural-funcionales, históricos, comparativos. Se concluye que
analizando los principios y resultados de la descentralización del poder en
los países europeos en el estudio vemos el crecimiento de la democracia. La
descentralización provoca un cambio de poder global, ya que se reduce la
distancia entre los ciudadanos y las instituciones gubernamentales.
Palabras clave: descentralización; política regional; democracia y
ciudadanía; sociedad civil; administración pública.
Introduction
Today, the process of spreading democracy in the world has spread to
all continents and has become a global trend. The urgency of the formation
and development of democracy is based on the growing popularity of
democratic values, namely - civic consciousness, human and civil rights
and freedoms, awareness, and protection of their own and public interests.
Decentralization is an important component of the democratization of
authority. At the same time, the processes of democratic transformation in
European countries are quite heterogeneous.
If in Western Europe there are quite old and stable traditions of
democratic governance, the countries of Eastern and Central Europe
are characterized by heterogeneity and instability of these processes. At
present, democracy is consolidating in most parts of the world, especially
in Central and Eastern Europe.
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Nadiia Babarykina, Oleksandra Demianenko y Yevhen Mahda
Decentralization as a global trend of democracy development
The urgent task for most countries of the world is the implementation
of eective and ecient governance, which is able to bring together the
government and ordinary citizens, contributes to meeting their needs at a
better level and the realization of democratic values in full. The realization
of democratic values is manifested in the conscious and active involvement
of citizens in public life, the defense of rights and freedoms, the protection
of their own interests, which ensure the viability and sustainability of
democracy.
The experience of democratic countries of Europe shows that the
introduction of alternative systems of providing quality services to the
population in the context of decentralization of authority helps to solve this
problem.
In many European countries, the need for decentralization has
arisen in connection with large-scale democratization processes and the
implementation of market reforms. The collapse of the bipolar system of
international relations has led to the unication of approaches to eective
governance. The transformation of the world from unipolar to bipolar has
accelerated the process of decentralization, as the European Union has
become one of the centers of global inuence.
The principles of building civil society, eciency, transparency,
openness and accountability, exibility and subsidiarity are mandatory, as
they are the basis for all sectoral policies developed and implemented in
the European Union. Reforms in dierent countries take place in dierent
ways, but the common basis for all countries is the reason for the need for
decentralization - to manage the provision of administrative services has
the lowest level of government, which can bear the costs and dispose of the
results.
In political science, the term “decentralization” (from the Latin “de …”
- a prex meaning negation, and “centralis” - the middle) - a governing
political system designed to implement meaningful practical decisions that
are geographically or organizationally outside the direct inuence of central
government; a political process involving the delegation of certain powers
by the central government to the local level in order to optimize the practical
solution of issues of national importance, as well as the implementation of
specic regional and local programs (Decentralization. A short dictionary
of political science terms, Undated).
The transition to decentralization - is a global shift in authority that frees
the individual from state care and allows democracy to be built from the
bottom up. Democracy presupposes the existence of feedback between the
government and the citizen. Citizens should be informed about all actions
and decisions of the government, and the government - about the real
needs of specic citizens. Only under such conditions will its actions and
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decisions be determined by the interests of citizens, social groups and it will
be able to adequately respond to their requests (Boryslavs'ka et al., 2012).
Decentralization reduces the distance between citizens and government
institutions, allows citizens to inuence government more eectively. It is
one of the arguments for the transfer.
1. Objectives
The aim of the article is to identify and analyze the essence, features, and
experience of decentralization as a global trend of democratization. The
realization of the aim requires the solution of the next task - to analyze the
experience of decentralization in the context of the development of democracy
of European Union countries. The object of study is decentralization in the
modern political process. The subject - decentralization as a global trend of
the development of democracy.
2. Materials and methods
The solution of the research tasks became possible due to the use of a
set of general scientic and special research methods: systemic, structural-
functional, historical, comparative. The systematic method was used during
the structuring and generalization of research papers devoted to the study
of the concept and phenomenon of decentralization, its essence, as well as in
the process of analysis of decentralization through the prism of democracy.
The structural-functional method was used to dierentiate the eects
of decentralization on political institutions, political relations, political
culture, and consciousness, as well as to dene it as a global trend of
democratization. The historical method made it possible to show the
development of decentralization through the prism of time in dierent
countries. The comparative method was used when comparing the processes
of decentralization reform in European countries.
The issue of decentralization in the context of democratization in the eld
of political science is not new, but it is becoming increasingly important.
This issue was devoted to the work of Ukrainian and international scholars
and practitioners such as - M. Baymuratov, Ye. Borodin, O. Gulac, V.
Zubchenko, I. Koliushko, S. Kvitka, M. Lend'el, B. Malchev, M. Moskalets,
R. Oleksenko, T. Sergiіenko, A. Tkachuk, O. Venger, V. Yemelyanov and
others.
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Nadiia Babarykina, Oleksandra Demianenko y Yevhen Mahda
Decentralization as a global trend of democracy development
3. Results and discussion
Decentralization of power contributes to the democratic development
of the state by strengthening the inuence of territorial gromadas, social
groups and the general public on matters of public importance. A democratic
state involves the public in public governance in order to optimally meet the
needs of society and the citizen. As part of the general trend, each country
has the features, forms and results of decentralization, the genesis and
evolution of relations between central and local government, basic social
values.
The implementation of decentralization reforms in the world has various
consequences. High-quality reform programs have been well developed
and successfully implemented in such democratic countries as Denmark,
Finland, Italy, France, Poland, and others. Their results are democratization
of society by involving citizens in decision-making, intensication of the
political process, improving the quality of public services and functions,
more rational use of budget funds, promoting regional development and
regional policy, increasing public condence in government.
The experience of development of foreign countries shows that
optimization of territorial organization of authority, strengthening local self-
government, formation of self-sucient territorial gromadas, development
of democracy is impossible without decentralization of power, which is the
basis for ensuring a high standard of living, providing quality services at
the local level.
Decentralization is a necessary condition for a democratization of state
power and society, as it contributes to increasing the eciency of central
and local authorities, favorable conditions for the development of the
region, the development of local democracy. In European countries, the
government is dened as a set of rules and regulations for the exercise of
power with respect to and ensuring their openness, public participation,
accountability, coordination.
A fundamental aspect of decentralization reforms in EU countries
is the active involvement of civil society in order to improve governance
and strengthen democratic principles. Among the basic conditions that
cause the trend of decentralization as a tendency to delegate powers and
responsibilities to local governments, we see – increasing the eciency
of local governments, the introduction of democracy and protection of
citizens’ rights, increasing the legitimacy of the state (Zhalilo et al., 2019).
The research of the successful experience of decentralization reforms in
dierent countries of the world demonstrates the global trend towards the
development of the foundations of democracy. Western European countries
have succeeded in creating a viable structure through decentralization to
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support the development of democracy and a stable dialogue between the
state and civil society.
It should be noted that despite the dierent algorithms of decentralization
in dierent countries of the European Union, the consolidating elements
include the desire to make the public administration system more ecient
by bringing citizens and key decision-making centers closer to the interests
of gromadas.
The experience of decentralization reforms in the Baltic countries is
interesting, where decentralization reform covered legal, administrative-
territorial, and scal areas, which were implemented autonomously. In the
Scandinavian countries, decentralization reform has helped to organize
modern local self-government on an agency principle.
In Denmark, the search for the optimal level of decentralization began
in 1958 and continued until 2007, when a new division of powers entered
into force in the new structure and identied areas for further improvement
of decentralized management along with stimulating integration processes
for municipal consolidation. As a result, Denmark has become one of the
most decentralized countries in Europe.
Expenditures of local self-government after the reform of the consolidation
of municipalities, when the average population of municipalities increased
from 20 to 55 thousand inhabitants, became stable, and before they were
constantly growing. Denmark is one of the countries with the largest
municipalities with the largest powers. Most European countries rst
encouraged the consolidation of small communities and then forcibly
united them (Experience of Decentralization in European Countries, 2015).
In Finland, a feature of governance reforms in the 1990s was the
implementation of large-scale transformations at the local level. Agency
relations between levels of government with broad autonomy, the
introduction of market principles in the provision of public services, etc.
However, the commercialization and transit of public services to the local
level has had a negative impact on the social sphere, which has traditionally
been characterized by a high level and quality of service delivery. Later, the
Finnish governance reform began to focus on the German experience of
gradual transformation using pilot projects (Experience of Decentralization
In European Countries, 2015).
In Italy, the result of the reform of decentralization of power was the
formation of a three-tier system of organization of power in the country:
region – province – commune. The organization of power and the division of
powers were introduced with the adoption of the Constitution of the Italian
Republic in 1948. In the early 2000s, a thorough reform of decentralization
and reorganization of power was carried out.
460
Nadiia Babarykina, Oleksandra Demianenko y Yevhen Mahda
Decentralization as a global trend of democracy development
Expenditures on education, health care, transport networks, civil aviation,
and administrative services for industry and business were concentrated
in regional budgets. The competence of the regions also includes issues
of spatial planning and development. In order to exercise their powers
eectively, the regions must be provided with sucient resources, which
include both their own resources and funds within the equal distribution of
funds provided by the state to support economic development and reduce
social and economic unrest (Experience of Decentralization in European
Countries, 2015).
The competencies of the Italian provinces include the support and
development of public transport, authorization and control of private
transport, roads within the provinces and related infrastructure, care for
secondary education infrastructure, economic development, including
employment centers, social service centers, cultural promotion, tourism,
and sports. A separate task of the province is to support and develop
cooperation and partnership between communes.
The tasks of the communes are the introduction and accumulation of
local taxes, regulation of local police, health care, primary and secondary
education, public transport, provision of social services at the local level,
trade permits, garbage collection and disposal, local transport infrastructure
and street lighting, social housing (Boryslavs'ka et al., 2012).
Let us dwell on the analysis of the experience of decentralization reform
in France. It is one of the countries in Europe where decentralization
movements arose in the post-bourgeois revolutions. The experience
of decentralization of French power has been used by many European
countries. The beginning of the largest in the XX century reform of the
administrative-territorial system of France, which took place in the 1980s,
date back to the beginning of the presidency of Charles de Gaulle. He
proposed a fundamentally new approach to the development of the state
and the relationship between the central administration and territorial
units (Khrebtiy, 2018).
In 1982, under the Law on the Rights and Freedoms of Communes,
Departments and Regions of March 2, 1982, the process of decentralization
of government in France began, according to which the regions became an
administrative-territorial unit with all necessary powers and headed by a
governing council, which is elected by direct universal voting (Experience
of Decentralization In European Countries, 2015).
During the 1982 reform, agglomeration communities were created,
and commune communities were created for smaller cities. There is also
an association of communes to solve a specic problem. There are now
18,000 dierent commune associations in France, which is also a problem,
so the government aims to reduce the number of communes to at least
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5,000, although this is considered too much for France (Experience of
Decentralization In European Countries, 2015).
In total, between 1982 and 1986, an additional 25 laws and about
200 decrees were passed. New local taxes (in addition to the four main
ones) and a global subsidy for decentralization from the state budget
have been introduced to compensate for the costs of local governments in
exercising their expanded powers. However, it soon became clear that such
compensation was not enough.
And this has led to a growing mismatch between the expanded powers
of the communes and the insucient nancial, material, human and
other resources available to them. Measures were needed to address the
problem. As a result, the task of consolidating lower-level administrative
units through the development of inter-municipal cooperation has become
a priority in further reforms (Hanuschak, 2015).
Assessing the experience of self-government reform accumulated in
France over more than thirty years, it should be noted that despite the
undoubted positive results (for example, in the eld of local government
development, inter-municipal cooperation, etc.), many important issues
remain unresolved. Contrary to the expectations of the reformers, the
administrative-territorial structure of the country has not become simpler
and clearer, on the contrary - the number of levels and types of territorial
units has increased. Regions and numerous inter-communal associations
were added to the three historical levels (communes, departments, and
states).
It should be noted and another direction of reform in France. It is about
increasing the role of cities in local development through the creation of
inter-municipal associations, including cities and adjacent territories. Such
a complex way of reform is associated with the lack of public consultation,
the application of a purely administrative principle of reform demonstrates
the low eciency and slowness of decentralization reform.
In our opinion, it is appropriate to study the practice of reform in
Poland. It was the experience of decentralization in France that formed the
basis of the decentralization reform in Poland. In turn, Ukraine is actively
borrowing the Polish experience of decentralization. This is due to several
reasons: rst, Poland is a neighboring state that has common factors
with Ukraine – the former post-communist state; a similar chronological
framework for the beginning of state-building and problems with nding a
model of public administration; secondly, a unitary state with a republican
form of government, a democratic political regime, but a parliamentary
form of government. It should be noted that the experience of implementing
decentralization reform in Poland is successful.
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Nadiia Babarykina, Oleksandra Demianenko y Yevhen Mahda
Decentralization as a global trend of democracy development
The decentralization reform in Poland contributed to the rapid
development of local self-government, improved the quality of life of its
citizens, and after the country’s accession to the European Union enabled the
newly created administrative units to act as equal partners in international
cooperation.
According to the Constitution, Poland is a unitary state. In the context of
the reform of decentralization of power and the introduction of autonomous
units in the administrative division of the country, the Constitution states
that the principle of a unitary state is not an obstacle to decentralization of
power and is guaranteed by the territorial structure of Poland.
The concept of decentralization is closely related to the concept of
subsidiarity, which implies the existence of local self-government, whose
functions include addressing issues at the local and regional levels. The
essence of the governance mechanism is that local issues are decided by
the local community, not by public authorities. The basis of administrative-
territorial reform was the principle of decentralization of power in Poland
(Tkachuk, 2018).
The reform of decentralization of power and the development of local
self-government in Poland began with the adoption of the Law of March
8, 1990 “On Commune Self-Government”, which established the basis of
local self-government – the commune. The changes came amid the collapse
of the pro-Soviet system of “people’s democracy.” The main task of the
commune was to meet the most important human needs. For this purpose,
the appropriate infrastructure was created, budget reform was carried out.
With the formation of the administrative-territorial division in Poland,
rst, the formation of the basic territorial level of government at the
gmina level was ensured. The nancial component and the distribution
of communal property at the basic level were of key importance for the
successful implementation of the administrative-territorial reform.
At the legislative level in Poland, a clear mechanism was introduced for
the distribution of the revenue side of the budget between the state budget
and local budgets, which allowed territorial authorities to form their own
budgets and forecast further development of the administrative-territorial
unit (Decentralization of Power On The Basis Of Best Foreign Practices And
Ukrainian Legislative Initiatives, 2015).
In Poland, the legislative implementation of administrative-territorial
reform began with the adoption of the Law “On the Establishment of a Basic
Three-Level Territorial Division of the State” of July 24, 1998 (Experience
of Decentralization In European Countries, 2015), according to which a
three-level territorial division was introduced on January 1, 1999. Poland
was divided into gminas (a basic territorial unit), districts and provinces
(regions). A new three-tier administrative-territorial division, according to
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
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which the state began to be divided into voivodships, counties and gminas.
The state is headed by the president, the voivodships by the voivode, the
county by the headman, and the gminas by the voit, the mayor, or the
president of the city (Decentralization: World Overview, 2018).
Management at the level of the administrative-territorial division was
regulated by the relevant legislation. They identify management and control
for each level. Thus, the gmina is governed by the commune council, the
district by the district council, and the voivodship by the sejm. The term of
oce of these bodies is four years.
The reform of decentralization of power in Poland has caused the biggest
changes at the lowest level – the level of communes. Local self-government
thus gained a real right to manage and dispose of its own resources, gained
additional powers and greater responsibility.
An analysis of decentralization reform in Denmark, Finland, Italy,
France, and Poland shows that decentralization is the key to increasing
the eciency of public administration. Therefore, the general principles of
eective administrative reform in any European country are quite similar.
We are talking about the active transfer of powers from top to bottom,
compliance with and promotion of the principle of subsidiarity, active
involvement of the public in decision-making. Decentralization causes an
increase in the role and importance of democratic values in society.
The level of development of democracy in the country is determined by
determining the index of democracy. The methodology for determining the
democracy index is based on data collection through a survey of expert and
public opinion. There is a list of methods that study the level of development
of democracy in the world, for example – the method of Tatu Vanhanen,
Freedom house, Economist Intelligence Unit. However, the methods are
united by the classication of democracy – full, incomplete, transitional
(hybrid) and authoritarian regime.
Table 1. Characteristics of the classication of democracy *
Classication Scores Characteristic
Full-edged
democracy 8-10
A country where civil liberties and basic
political freedoms are respected, high political
culture, developed democratic principles. There
is a functioning system of government, the
independence of the judiciary, whose decisions are
binding, and the independent media. The country
may have very minor problems in its democratic
functioning.
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Nadiia Babarykina, Oleksandra Demianenko y Yevhen Mahda
Decentralization as a global trend of democracy development
Incomplete
democracy 6-7.9
Countries where elections are fair and free, but
problems may arise (for example, violations of media
freedom), although fundamental civil liberties are
respected. Countries have shortcomings in some
democratic aspects (underdeveloped political
culture, low level of participation in politics,
problems in the functioning of the governance
system).
Transitional
(hybrid)
democracy 4-5.9
Countries where there are regular indirect election
irregularities that prevent them from being
recognized as fair and free. These states often
have a government that puts pressure on political
opponents, no independent judiciary, widespread
corruption, harassment and pressure on the
media, no full rule of law, and more pronounced
shortcomings than in incomplete democracies
in the development of political culture. level
of participation in policy, and problems in the
functioning of the management system.
Authoritarian
regime less
than 4
In countries where there is no political pluralism
and free elections, there is absolute dictatorship,
violations and oppression of civil liberties, there
may be traditional institutions of democracy
of insignicant importance. The media are
subordinate to the state, the judiciary is not
independent, there is censorship and suppression
of government criticism.
* Compiled by the authors on the basis of materials of the Democracy
Index (2020).
Let’s turn to the results of a study of the Democracy Index by the
Economist Intelligence Unit in 2020. We have the following gures for the
democracy index and the category of democracy of the countries from the
list we have considered above in relation to the process of decentralization
reforms, namely: Denmark – 9.15; Finland – 9.20; Italy – 7.74; France –
7.99; Poland – 6.85; Ukraine – 5.81 (Democracy Index, 2020). Thus, the
category of full-edged democracy includes Denmark and Finland, the
category of imperfect – Italy, France, Poland, the category of countries
with a transitional, hybrid regime includes Ukraine. There is a certain
correlation between the beginning of the decentralization reform process in
the country and the indicator of the democracy index in it.
Table 2. Comparison of decentralization reform
and democracy index *
Country The beginning of decentralization Democracy Index
Denmark 1958 9.15
Finland 1990 9.20
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Italy 2000 7.74
France 1982 7.99
Poland 1990 6.85
Ukraine 2014 5.81
* Own elaboration.
Conclusion
Analyzing the regulatory principles and the results of decentralization
of power in European countries in the form of statistical indicators of
economic and democratic development, the level of citizen involvement and
the impact of information and communication technologies on democracy,
we see a tendency to strengthen democracy and sustainable development.
This trend is stable and systemic. Foreign positive experience clearly
demonstrates the importance of decentralization for countries that are in
the process of profound changes in the system of public administration and
regulation of socio-economic relations. It should be noted that for countries
in transition, decentralization is an eective way to change the essential
characteristics of society and has signicant potential and prospects for the
development of full democracy.
For Ukraine today, the issue of decentralization seems to be key in
the transition from the status of a country in transition to high-quality
integration into the EU. That is why it is necessary to study the experience
of the members of the European Union, to comprehend it and use it for
the sake of democratization and increasing the eciency of government in
Ukraine.
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
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Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
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