Dynamics of Administrative Capacity in Slovenian Municipal Administrations

Abstract

A suitable quality level of the main functions and tasks of municipal administrations is a fundamental condition for the existence and development of every activity, not only for market-oriented organisations but also the public sector. Slovenian municipalities have not adopted a general policy on quality and it is therefore difficult to speak of the optimisation of work in a municipal administration, the efficiency and rationality of work, cost reduction, nor to evaluate the performance of an administration and the individual civil servants it employs. The authors of this article present the results of an empirical research project on administrative capacity carried out among the directors of Slovenian municipal administrations in both 2007 and 2012 and an analysis of the topic in the context of reorganisation of local administrations. By means of the Administrative Capacity Index (ACI), they evaluate the degrees of individual municipalities’ administrative capacities and establish at what population size a municipality can be regarded as administratively capable.