Abstract:

In history, many times Poland came under the domination of powerful countries and its territories were occupied. The territory of the state of the Poland was shared by the three neighboring power of Russia, Austria and Prussia in 1875. The Polish nation deprived of their own state for 123 years and regained its independence in 1918. The local governments largely influenced from that historical process. In this context, especially by the 1990 and onwards, decentralization reform process came to the agenda for the efficient and effective service provision of local governments. Lots of tasks and responsibilities were transferred to the local governments within the context of the “Local Self-government Act” which was enacted in 1990. The main objective of the study is based on the detailed examination of the local government system in Poland. Firstly, at the study, the historical development of the local government system was put forth within the framework of the changing structure and functioning of local governments. In that scope, it will be focused on the principles of “The Constitution of the Republic of Poland” that was enacted in 1997 concerning with local governments and other local governments Acts’ significant provisions. At the second step in the article, the local government units of municipalities, counties and regions will be explained. Each local government units’ administrative structure, functions of administrative units and their supervision will be analysed in a comprehensive manner. Besides, in the article, the ways of cooperation among the local government units which are the creation of unions, the setting up agreement and the establishment of association will be explained. In that context, the supervision structure of local governments will be examined with the framework of legal audit and financial audit. The financial structure of local governments has been forth in terms of the Constitutional principles concerning local government finance and the related Acts concerning the local governments’ financial regulations such as “The Revenues of the State Departments”, “The Act on Local Taxes and Fees”, “The Act on Local Government Revenues”. Lastly, it will be dwelt upon the personel structure of local governments in Poland.

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