Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 16th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview I. Working Group on Local Government Author(s) Sulev Maeltsmees Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn Estonia Title The capital city in the local self-government system in central and eastern European and Caucasus countries File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract Capital cities have a special role in their national local self-government system. On one hand, each capital city has a certain symbolic meaning to their state; the whole state is assessed based on its capital city. On the other hand, the capital city generally differs from the rest of the local governments of the state: • It is usually the largest local government of the state in terms of population • The GDP of the capital city and the metropolitan area is considerably higher than the state’s average and, therefore, the capital city is one of the principal innovation and economic centres of the country. Capital cities must be enabled legally and financially to fulfil long-term global requirements that should be taken into account in the national urban policy and in the distribution of national tax revenue. It is necessary to study the position of the capital city in other countries, especially in the transformation countries, which is done in the article. An analysis of the role of the capital city in the local self-government organisation of a country must consider the following four aspects: 1. The capital city in the human habitation system 2. The capital city and the national legal environment 3. Management models of the capital city 4. The economic environment in the capital city; the capital city and the economic environment of the hinterland and the country. The Central and Eastern European and Caucasus Countries Region for the purpose of the present article is the area covering 23 countries. The total Region is 6.7 million km2 (2/3 of the territory of Europe and Caucasus) and their combined population is 380 million people (55% of the total population of Europe and Caucasus). 31 million people live in the capital cities of the Region and that is 10% of the population of the Region. Four groups of capital cities can be distinguished, depending on whether and how national legislation regulates the issue of the capital city: 1. The constitution establishes the capital city 2. There is a special law on the capital city 3. The status of the capital city is provided in a separate chapter, section or sections of the law on local self-government 4. The capital city is treated in the law on local self-government like any other local government. The problems of management of the capital city can in fact be generally divided into three groups: 1. Relations with the central government 2. Relations on the horizontal level and regional co-operation 3. Internal relations of the city, including decentralisation. From the point of view of economy two big groups of problems need to be analysed: 1. The role of the capital city in the economy of the country 2. Economic activities of the capital city as a local government itself (municipal revenue and expenditure, delivery of public services etc.).
