Socio-economic Development and Political Changes: an Empirical Study of Political Decision-making in 16 Slovene Comunes

The author deals with certain questions of the relation between socio-economic development and political decision making in communes. The well-known Deutsch-Lipset model is usually applied, but empirical findings do not alwavs confirm its principles. The autocratic type of decision making may be successful during the early stage of modernization and economic growth. However, when a certain level of development is reached, the model of centralistic administration becomes a barrier to further speedy development