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Reforming local public administration in Romania: trends and obstacles

Dacian C. Drago

Public Administration Department, Babe Bolyai University, Romania

Bogdana Neamu

Public Administration Department, Babe Bolyai University, Romania

This article endeavors to diagnose and critically assess some of the challenges Romanian public administration is confronted with and to discuss some of the reform efforts that have been made in order to cope with these challenges. The concept of administrative capacity is central to this analysis — the authors examine the practical implications of this concept and try to assess what could be done in order to increase the administrative capacity of local public administration and to complete the decentralization process. From a methodological standpoint, the article employs qualitative analysis. Secondary data analysis and document analysis (scientific papers and official documents such as laws, reports issued by the EU institutions) were used in order to justify some of the comments and assumptions made throughout the article.

Points for practitioners

The article highlights several of the reform efforts in the field of public administration undertaken recently by Romania. It points out that the process of decentralization is closely intertwined with the development of the administrative capacity of the territorial units. The authors argue in favor of seeking a balance between focus on internal reform and changing the relations between the public administration and society. One of the main conclusions is that although Romania has improved the legislation in the field of decentralization and local autonomy, there are still steps that need to be taken towards better implementation.

Key Words: administrative capacity • administrative territorial units • city manager • community development associations • decentralization • local autonomy

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International Review of Administrative Sciences, Vol. 73, No. 4, 629-648 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0020852307083464


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Dragos, D. C. Articles by Neamtu, B. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?