Reforming local public administration in Romania: trends and obstacles

This article endeavors to diagnose and critically assess some of the challenges Romanian public administration is confronted with and to discuss some of the reform efforts that have been made in order to cope with these challenges. The concept of administrative capacity is central to this analysis — the authors examine the practical implications of this concept and try to assess what could be done in order to increase the administrative capacity of local public administration and to complete the decentralization process. From a methodological standpoint, the article employs qualitative analysis. Secondary data analysis and document analysis (scientific papers and official documents such as laws, reports issued by the EU institutions) were used in order to justify some of the comments and assumptions made throughout the article. Points for practitioners The article highlights several of the reform efforts in the field of public administration undertaken recently by Romania. It points out that the process of decentralization is closely intertwined with the development of the administrative capacity of the territorial units. The authors argue in favor of seeking a balance between focus on internal reform and changing the relations between the public administration and society. One of the main conclusions is that although Romania has improved the legislation in the field of decentralization and local autonomy, there are still steps that need to be taken towards better implementation.