Intra-municipal units in urban political systems in Poland: Vicious roundabout of marginalization or dead-end street?

Abstract

Neighbourhood/district councils exist in most big Polish cities. But their position in city politics is very weak, although differences among individual cities may be easily identified. There is also a low citizen interest in neighbourhood councils. The article tests a model to explain the variation among the cities and discusses the negative feedback between the dis-engagement of citizens and the narrow set of functions delegated to neighbourhoods. It asks the question if breaking that negative feedback is possible.