ADMINISTRATIVE-TERRITORIAL ORGANISATION – A STRUCTURAL PREMISE OF INTER-MUNICIPAL COOPERATION

Abstract

The study examines the administrative-territorial organisation of Romania and the Republic of Moldova as a structural premise of inter-municipal cooperation, starting from the thesis that the number, size and degree of fragmentation of first-tier administrative-territorial units directly determine whether cooperation between local communities remains a mere institutional option or becomes a functional necessity. The objectives pursued are: identifying the theoretical framework of the relationship between the size of local government units and administrative capacity; analysing the constitutional and statutory framework of territorial organisation in the two states; empirically assessing first-tier fragmentation by reference to legal doctrine, official statistical data and recent reform initiatives; and formulating a comparative conclusion on the role of inter-municipal cooperation. The research relies on documentary analysis and on the comparative, historical and logical methods. The results show that, despite the formal structural similarity (two administrative tiers), the two states display a different genesis of fragmentation – post-1989 and identity-driven in Romania, an unreformed Soviet legacy in the Republic of Moldova – but a common functional diagnosis: first-tier units too small to exercise their competences effectively. The theoretical implications lie in confirming the organic link between the constitutional premise of local autonomy and the structural premise of territorial organisation; the practical implications lie in validating the twofold solution enacted by the Moldovan legislator in 2023 – voluntary amalgamation and inter-community cooperation — conceived as complementary, not alternative, responses to the deficit of administrative capacity.