000			01766pab a2200169 454500
008			180718b1998 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aRolla, Giancarlo
245			_aAutonomy: a guiding criterion for decentralizing public administration
260			_c1998
300			_ap.27-39
362			_aMar
520			_aAn obvious difference exists between constitutional and administrative change: changes in public administration, in general, happen gradually, so much so that anyone observing the matter from a historical perspective is tempted to notice more continuity than discontinuity. The predominant element in the life of most administrations is usually the `evolution' of systems, i.e. the continuous adaptation, often imperceptible, of organizations and their functions in order to adjust to the new shape of external reality. Much less frequent is the phenomenon of reform, consisting of rapid change that includes even the principles and the rules that govern organaizations and the behaviour of administrations. The general tendency which has recently emerged seems to involve various realities which might in themselves appear to be dissimilar: states with either new or very old traditions, unitary or federal states, states based upon the principles of civil law or upon the rules of common law. All the same, it is interesting to note that the introduction of radical administrative reform involves, in largely equal measure, legal systems subject to radical constitutional reform (in Belgium, for example) and legal systems with high administrative stability (such as in France and in Great Britain)
650			_aDecentralization
650			_aPublic administration
773			_aInternational Review of Administrative Sciences
909			_a38041
999			_c38041 _d38041