DUAL MODELS OF COUNTY-LEVEL SELF-GOVERNMENT, A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RURAL COUNTIES AND COUNTY-STATUS CITIES

The aim of the study is to substantiate and compare how the dualism of county self-government in the format of a rural county and a city with county rights affects management decisions and the availability of supramunicipal public services for the population.The object of the study is the system of county self-government in Poland, represented by two institutional models, namely rural counties and cities with county rights.The study examines dual models of county self-government in Poland, where rural counties and cities with county rights coexist as two institutional forms within the same national system.The analysis focuses on how differences in government bodies and decision-making trajectories affect the implementation of supramunicipal tasks and, through this, residents' everyday access to public services.The comparison covers the model of a rural county with a county council and a collegiate executive body headed by a starosta, and the model of a city with county rights, where the functions of the county are performed by a city council and a city president.The decisive factor is the combination of community and county competencies in one urban self-government body, which changes the balance between the speed of decision-making and the need for internal coordination.Special attention is paid to the list of county tasks, including education, health care support, social assistance, transport and roads, culture, geodesy and cadastre, environmental protection, employment policy, consumer protection, security and promotion of the territory.It is shown that in rural counties, the provision of these services often means managing a network of institutions over a large area, coordinating routes and accessibility, as well as balancing investments between the county center and peripheral communities.In cities with county rights, similar tasks are performed under conditions of population and infrastructure concentration, often through the same city administrative structures, which reduces the number of coordination levels and can speed up procedures.The study takes into account the example of a joint commission on security and order, which can be created by the city president and the head of a neighboring county, as an indicator of the functional interdependence of the city and surrounding territories.