THE SUBSTANCE AND IMPLICATIONS OF INTEGRAL PLANNING IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

Abstract

Local development planning in local government units (municipalities and towns) has always played an important social role in all countries. In recent decades, this area has been regulated by adequate laws, which differ greatly from one another primarily due to an underdeveloped science-based theory of local development. According to the recently constructed theory, two local planning systems were identified. The first system (of a long-standing tradition) is called the partial system because local and overall social development in a particular country is solely taken care of by a country that has its own development interests. The second (new) system is called the integral system, which implies partner relations between the state and the most influential professional democratic forces that participate in development planning activities. The comparison of these two systems points to the great advantages of the integral system of local planning over the partial one; for this reason, developed countries are increasingly switching to the use of the integral system. Due to the insufficiently developed theory of local planning, this scientific article aims to contribute to supplementing the integral system of local development by projecting its general implications for local self-government and the associated nation-state, as well as the international community. Based on relevant research methods, the obtained results have shown that the implementation of this system implicitly causes positive fundamental social changes which enable less developed countries in particular to catch up with the developed countries much faster and much more efficiently.