DECENTRALISATION IN THE CONTEXT OF MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE: STUDY CASE - ROMANIA

After the breakdown of communism, there was a significant misfit in terms of governance between Romania and the democracies from Western Europe, due to a strong centrist legacy that shaped the political system in Bucharest during the 20th century. Nevertheless, after a slow start, Romania started to embrace some elements of multi-level governance and devolve authority to the sub-national governments in order to comply with the EU membership requirements. The process was not an easy one as the central government tried to retain as much authority as possible. Thus, the decentralisation process is not yet complete. The article starts with a general context related to multi-level governance and the potential benefits attached to the decentralisation process and then continues by analysing the developments and the obstacles that hindered the full implementation of these processes in Romania.