The reform of Polish self-government in the 90's has led to the restoration of local democracy. However, the self-governmental institutions soon fell into crisis, having nearly lost the social trust required for the realisation of their mission. The principal cause behind this phenomenon was the atrophy of moral, political and legal responsibility of the local authorities towards the communities that have elected them. There is a twofold source of weaknesses and dangers for Polish self-government: the erroneous way of introducing changes (...) in the system of government, and the forthcoming sociopolitical phenomena that hampered or even made it impossible to achieve some of the goals of the reform. We support the radical revision of legal regulation to remove these weaknesses. The basis for such a change will be the principle of subsidiarity as a governing rule for the entire system of public authority. This will ensure that the communities of inhabitants are seen as primary subjects of self-governmental power, and their power is rooted in citizens' rights to self-government. It is also necessary to ensure a truly pluralistic character of territorial power. Thus the citizens and their associations will have an influence on the election and functioning of the selfgovernmental bodies. The Author warns against the risk of emergence of a class of local and regional 'mandarins' in Polish public life – a class of practically ineradicable and systematically deficient leadership, likely to emerge should the mechanisms of democratic responsibility fail to be restored into the governmental bodies. The article ends with suggestions of particular legal changes aiming at the correct formation of Polish self-governmental institutions in both morally and socially rightful sense. (shrink)

Officials in a democratic state should be its society's loyal servants, bound to respect the law. They are also bound to be loyal for the supervisors, and obedient to their orders. The Author analyzes legal regulation concerning conflicts which arise from that „double loyalty” of the officials, especially when the orders they are given contradict legal regulation or principles of ethic they find binding.

The core of the local self-government stems from the Western (Latin) civilization values. European Nations have always fought for the qualities and perseverance of local self government. Currently it is considered an attribute of local democracy, although in the European tradition it has long been related to the pluralist values of social life organization. The communes; freedom, and their independence from the local government have been derived from natural law and seen as a condition for a healthy social system. Contemporarily, (...) local self-government as a law and ability for local communities to manage a range of public matters independently, has been anew recognized as a social system value in uniting Europe. Yet there have also revived certain historical threats to the local selfgovernment arisen from central and local bureaucracy, particularism, and bribing local power elites. In such case, the fight for a local government that complies with Latin civilizational values acquires a special meaning. (shrink)