The Political-Administrative Nexus in Sub-National Governance: Exploring the Lack of Independent Administration in Poland

Abstract

The main problem addressed in the paper is the relation between politics and administration. The authors try to answer if independent administration exists at the sub-national level in Poland. In a more detailed manner, the question is whether an acceptance of independent administration has been fostered by the dispersion of political power and the experience of participation in important decision-making processes. The data used in the article come from a survey of councillors and in-depth interviews with councillors and clerks. The analysis proved that the councillors’ opinions as to the independence of administration are influenced by their participation in the ruling majority. Opposition members support stricter, more stringent legislative oversight. Majority members, on the contrary, accept greater independence of administration. The result of the study leads also to a conclusion about the importance of monopolization and the influence on administration by the executive and the majority councillors. Administration becomes perceived as a functional part of the majority. A more fundamental conclusion is when there is no programmatic competition between political groupings of councillors, there are no conditions for establishing an administration independent of politics. This outcome completes the relationship noted by Miller and Whitford with the programmatic dimension of political competition.