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Sub-Municipal Governance in Europe pp 41–68Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The “Little Town-Halls” in the Czech Republic: An Unexploited Potential of Functional Decentralization

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Part of the book series: Governance and Public Management ((GPM))

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the function of sub-municipal units (SMUs) and to identify the drivers or initiators of the creation of SMUs and the role SMUs play in terms of representative democracy and multilevel governance in the Czech Republic. The study addresses the following issues: How often do Czech statutory cities decide to organize sub-municipal councils? What is the role of the SMUs in the provision of local government functions? What is the level of citizens’ interest in the SMUs? The chapter concludes with a discussion on whether the SMUs could be the appropriate instrument, partially counterbalancing the negative effects of the Czech fragmented municipal structure.

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: jakub.lysek@upol.cz (J. Lysek). Department of Political Science and European Studies, Palacký University, Křížkovského 12, Olomouc 771 80, Czech Republic. IGA_FF_2016_15.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Document on Decentralization of the statutory city Prostějov, the proposal tabled to the city council on 15 February 2016. Available at http://mapy.mestopv.cz/soubory/materialy%20do%20zastupitelstva/2015/2.11.2015/.

  2. 2.

    E-mail communication with Kamil Rajsigl, the head of Organizational Department of the statutory city Brno, email: rajsigl.kamil@brno.cz.

  3. 3.

    E-mail conversation with Jiři Turek, the Head of Department of the Secretary, e-mail: Jiri.Turek@mmp.cz.

  4. 4.

    “The Statute was amended”. The statutory city Opava, available at: http://www.opava-city.cz/cs/statut-mesta-opavy-prosel-upravami.

  5. 5.

    “Abolishing SMUs is a nonsense, councillors say”, Aktualne.cz, available at: https://zpravy.aktualne.cz/domaci/politika/zrusit-obvody-ve-mestech-nesmysl-rikaji-starostove/r~i:article:515281/.

  6. 6.

    “SMUs want to make decision about themselves”, Ostrava, available at: https://poruba.ostrava.cz/cs/o-porube/aktualne/obvody-chteji-rozhodovat-o-svem-rozvoji.

  7. 7.

    “The referendum on abolishing SMUs”, IDNES, available at: http://pardubice.idnes.cz/referendum-mestske-obvody-zruseni-duc-/pardubice-zpravy.aspx?c=A130405_1913136_pardubice-zpravy_mt.

  8. 8.

    Document on Decentralization of the statutory city Prostějov, the proposal tabled to the city council on 15 February 2016. Available at http://mapy.mestopv.cz/soubory/materialy%20do%20zastupitelstva/2015/2.11.2015/.

  9. 9.

    Email communication with Kamil Rajsigl, the head of Organizational Department of the statutory city Brno. rajsigl.kamil@brno.cz.

  10. 10.

    All city budgets are available on the portal of Ministry of Finance: http://monitor.statnipokladna.cz/2016/.

  11. 11.

    Aggregated data file for the year 2016—monthly annual surveys from January to December 2016. Available in SPSS (English) or other formats at: http://nesstar.soc.cas.cz/webview/.

  12. 12.

    SmartCities Magazine 2016, http://www.scmagazine.cz/casopis/02-16/ceska-cesta-k-participativnimu-rozpoctovani?locale=cs.

  13. 13.

    Prague 3, http://hlasovani.praha3.cz/, Prague 10, http://moje-stopa.cz/.

  14. 14.

    Ostrava-South district, https://ovajih.ostrava.cz/cs/obcan/participativni-rozpocet.

  15. 15.

    “SMUs will not be terminated in Usti”, Ustecky Deník, available at http://ustecky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/obvody-mesto-zatim-nezrusi-20130213.html.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science and European Studies, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Jakub Lysek

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  1. Jakub Lysek
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Nikolaos-Komninos Hlepas

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Norbert Kersting

  3. Political Science, Public Administration and Organization, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Sabine Kuhlmann

  4. Department of Local Development and Policy, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Pawel Swianiewicz

  5. Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Filipe Teles

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Lysek, J. (2018). The “Little Town-Halls” in the Czech Republic: An Unexploited Potential of Functional Decentralization. In: Hlepas, NK., Kersting, N., Kuhlmann, S., Swianiewicz, P., Teles, F. (eds) Sub-Municipal Governance in Europe. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64725-8_3

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