The Metamorphoses of the Territorial Organization of Local Authority in the Republic of Moldova in the Post-Communist Decades: from the “Soviet Rigor” to the “Democratic Incertitude”

Abstract

This paper aims to elucidate the process of reorganising the territorial dimension of the local authority in the Republic of Moldova from the proclamation of independence up to the present. The primary data collection method was the content analysis of the official documents and statistics, legal papers, and scientific literature. The study analyses the territorial organisation of the local power in those three decades after the fall of communism. Based on the content analysis of the relevant normative acts, official documents, statistical data, and specialised papers, the evolutions and involutions of this period were revealed. As a result, it was concluded that during the three decades of post-communist transition, several attempts were made to reform the territorial organisation of the local authority. These reformist attempts were uninspired and incorrectly performed, being ostensibly rejected by both political actors and officials from state and local public authorities. Generally, the administrative reforms and restructuring at the local level and, implicitly, of the territorial organisation of the local authority were carried out according to the political objectives of the governors, not having strategies with clearly established aims at their base. The opinion of the imminent necessity of reforming the territorial organisation of the local authority in the Republic of Moldova as a mandatory condition for the efficient functioning of democracy at the local level was formulated and argued.

Keywords

• post-communist transition
• territorial organisation
• local authority
• soviet system
• reform
• republic of moldova
• autonomy