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SP baner

Vol. 47 No. 2 (2019)

Political institutions

Divided Power in Polish Municipalities: Characteristics of the Phenomenon

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35757/STP.2019.47.2.1
Submitted: December 30, 2019
Published: 2019-06-28

Abstract

The article discusses the specificity of horizontal power relations at the municipal level in Poland. The considerations focus on the political situation in which the municipal mayor/town mayor/city mayor is a representative of a different electoral committee than the majority of representatives in the municipal council. This situation is defined as divided power. The author outlines the historical and legal context of the emergence of divided power.
She indicates the institutional causes of the phenomenon, including legal mechanisms that block the formation of divided power systems. She also describes the influence of the electoral system on the formation of divided power. Moreover, the scale and spatial distribution of the phenomenon are shown and the municipalities in which this system of power functions are characterised. The results of the local government elections that took place in Poland between 2010 and 2014 are analysed.

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