Determinants and directions of evolution of intermunicipal cooperation forms : from the perspective of 30 years of experience in the creation of municipal associations in Poland

The institution of intermunicipal cooperation has been studied in the world literature from different perspectives, from the motivation for undertaking cooperation, to the presentation of institutional arrangements, to the results of cooperation. This study presents the status and major directions of European research. Against this background, the premises, dynamics and directions of development of intermunicipal cooperation in Poland are presented. Using a dogmatic-legal, historical-legal and empirical method, the study examines and evaluates municipal associations, which have been established in Poland for 30 years and represent the most durable and formalized form of such cooperation. They are created for the purpose of joint implementation of public tasks, the results of which are aimed at meeting the basic needs of residents. The thesis has been formulated that intermunicipal cooperation in the form of associations is a mechanism of voluntary and bottom-up correction of the method used by the legislator to divide public tasks between local government units and financial resources allocated to them for their implementation. The use of the legal form of a municipal association as an instrument for the auxiliary and secondary distribution of tasks and responsibilities makes it possible to correct the statutorily defined division of tasks independently by interested units, without the need to change the arrangement of tasks through legislative work. Municipal associations are a factor potentially dynamizing the static (statutorily defined) distribution of public tasks and competencies. They coexist alongside the functioning degrees of the state's territorial division and complement the structures of public administration. Their creation promotes the development of a region and generally contributes to the socio-economic and civilization prosperity of the larger area of the state. As a result, the creation of municipal associations was considered an alternative to making another costly reform of the state's territorial division.