Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej MW Pivot Skin

SPECIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT – public-law associations of a compulsory nature, whose competences include a specific sphere of professional, economic, cultural, religious activity or nationality of a certain category of persons. These associations carry out, in an authoritative way, on a par with the bodies of local government, the decentralized part of the state administration. S.s.g. is sometimes referred to as non-territorial self-government, but this is not a strict concept, since each unit of non-territorial self-government also extends its authority to a certain area. This is not a criterion for separating a particular self-government entity, but an important element rationalizing its functioning – it is therefore more precise to use the term s.s.g. As for the s.s.g., change of profession, sphere of business activity or religion, which is mainly a consequence of the will of the individual, gives the basis for the withdrawal from a particular self-government association. A membership in s.s.g. is therefore compulsory only in the event of certain circumstances with which the law joins the obligation to join such an association. The scope of activities of s.s.g. depends on the quality of the decentralization processes, the level of economic and cultural development of the country, and above all on the government structure of a given state. The s.s.g. consists mainly in associations of economic self-government (e.g., chambers of industry and commerce, agriculture chambers, chambers of crafts), associations of professional self-government (e.g., bar associations, medical chambers, pharmacy chambers), but also associations of religious self-government and associations of minorities’ self-government. The functioning of self-government in the aforementioned areas is a measure of the democratisation of state structures and the desire to increase the level of civic participation [ R. Kmieciak ].

Literature: Z. Grelowski, Samorząd specjalny – gospodarczy, zawodowy, wyznaniowy według obowiązujących ustaw w Polsce, Katowice 1947 ■ S. Wykrętowicz, Samorząd akademicki a wolność nauki, [w:] Ekonomia, red. B. Borkowska, G. Wrzeszcz-Kamińska, Wrocław 2006.