Higher Territorial Self-Governing Units in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

This dissertation thesis deals with the establishment and practical functioning of the higher territorial self-governing units in the Czech Republic and in the Slovak Republic. It contains information on the development of the territorial division of former Czechoslovakia between the years 1918 and 1993, with an emphasis on the establishment of a regional system during the communist regime. The dissertation is focused on the process of the establishment of regional level of self-government in the Czech and Slovak Republic in 1990s. Debates over the most appropriate territorial and administrative division took place in parliaments of both countries after 1993. Two models of territorial division were considered in the Czech Republic - a provincial system, based on historical lands, and a regional system. Two alternatives were discussed in Slovakia - a county system and regional system. The territory of the Czech Republic was ultimately divided into 14 higher territorial self-governing units (13 regions and the Capital City of Prague), and the territory of Slovakia into 8 regions. The author focuses especially on the detailed analysis of respective draft bills and stenographic reports of parliamentary debates regarding the higher territorial self- governing units in parliaments of both countries. The..