Local Collectivity v. Administrative-Territorial Unit–a Legal-Semantic Perspective

Abstract

The paper topic is placed in the general context of implementing democracy at the local level by means of decentralization of public administration (PA). This interest requires the need of theoretical grounds for a series of new concepts, such as local power and subjects entitled to detain and exercise this power. The study is looking for an answer to the following research question: which is the scientific concept that describes the subject of local autonomy: the territorial-administrative unit or the local collectivity?