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<p>Sub-municipal spatial community-based bodies, represented in the form of councils, have important roles in urban governance in many countries. This paper attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the legitimacy of sub-municipal councils (SMCs) in the specific conditions of small and mid-sized cities, within the context of democratising post-socialist society and decentralising government. Using the questionnaire and additional local resources, we discuss a selected set of relevant components of the legitimacy of SMCs, such as the traditions of their existence, legal and democratic grounds, autonomy, personal qualities, expertise, procedural issues, results and stability. We document these issues pertaining to the case of SMCs in small and medium-sized cities in Slovakia, emphasising the need for more components of legitimacy for their stable existence, with the strong impact of local traditions, legal framework development and incorporation into local representative democracy bodies.</p>
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Sub-municipal spatial community-based bodies, represented in the form of councils, have important roles in urban governance in many countries. This paper attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the legitimacy of sub-municipal councils (SMCs) in the specific conditions of small and mid-sized cities, within the context of democratising post-socialist society and decentralising government. Using the questionnaire and additional local resources, we discuss a selected set of relevant components of the legitimacy of SMCs, such as the traditions of their existence, legal and democratic grounds, autonomy, personal qualities, expertise, procedural issues, results and stability. We document these issues pertaining to the case of SMCs in small and medium-sized cities in Slovakia, emphasising the need for more components of legitimacy for their stable existence, with the strong impact of local traditions, legal framework development and incorporation into local representative democracy bodies.

The Legitimacy of Sub-Municipal Councils in Small and Mid-Sized Cities Under Post-Socialist Conditions

Quaestiones Geographicae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Sub-municipal spatial community-based bodies, represented in the form of councils, have important roles in urban governance in many countries. This paper...

Population size of city	Number of cities total	Number of cities with SMC	Number of cities without SMC	Number of not-responding cities	Share of cities with SMCs in%
Below 5,000	22	2	17	3	9.10
5,000–9,999	44	9	29	7	120.45
10,000–19,999	33	8	24	1	24.24
20,000–49,999	29	16	10	2	55.17
Above 50,000	8	8	0	0	100.00
Total	136	43	80	13

The Legitimacy of Sub-Municipal Councils in Small and Mid-Sized Cities Under Post-Socialist Conditions

Published Online: Jun 27, 2023

Page range: 37 - 51

Received: Oct 27, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2023-0014

© 2023 Ján Buček et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Sub-municipal councils in Slovak cities according to their size categories (2016).