Rechts- und Wirtschaftsprobleme der Gebietsreform in Estland

The purpose of this paper is to analyze administrative-territorial reforms in Estonia, the comparative analysis of the public administration reforms in the Baltic Sea region, to formulate principles and purposes of the administrative-territorial reform in Estonia. An administrative-territorial reform has been topical since in the Estonia regained its independence but there are virtually no results. In 1995, a law was passed granting the Government the right to take decisions on the country’s administrative-territorial division. Both the local authorities and the central government can initiate changes in the administrative-territorial division. A public opinion poll must be conducted before any decision on changes can be taken, although the Government is not bound by the results of the opinion poll. By the spring of 2009, there were 227 local governments in Estonia, including 194 rural municipalities and 33 cities. The administrative-territorial organisation of Estonia needs changing. The average population of Estonian rural municipalities is less than 2,500 people and, in spite of mergers, there are still inexpedient units where the centrally located settlement is separated from its hinterland in administrative terms. However, one must be objective when preparing and carrying out the administrativeterritorial reform. The often expressed opinion that decreasing the number of rural municipalities would result in retrenchment of resources in terms of the number of local officials and administrative costs is misleadin

Hauptstadt und Hauptstadtregion im System der lokalen Gebeitskörperschaften

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the position of capital city and capital city region in Estonia. An analysis of the position of the capital city in the local self-government organisation of a country must consider the following four aspects: 1. The capital city in the system of human settlements. 2. The capital city and the national legal environment, including the capital city’s relationship with the central government and regional co-operation. 3. Management models of the capital city, including decentralisation. 4. The economic environment in the capital city; the capital city and the economic environment of the region and the country. The author is of the opinion that there are practically no interdisciplinary analyses addressing legal, economic, and demographic and management problems of capital city in Estonia

Role of environment in strengthening competitiveness of cities by example of European Green Capitals and Tallinn

Guaranteeing a high-level living environment is one of the most important preconditions to the balanced and sustainable economic and social development of the European Union. Serious environmental problems can be seen in European cities, which are the places where most of the population live and which create the highest number of jobs, economic growth and added value. The level of urbanisation in Europe was 72.7% in 2010 and the UN forecast that it will increase to 82.2% by 2050. The European Green Capital Award was created in 2006 in order to recognise cities that have contributed to the improvement of their quality of life. The cities that have won the award have started using the most innovative and efficient measures for increasing the city’s competitiveness, and are an example of how to achieve sustainable development for all cities, not just capitals. The environmental indicators of cities that have won the European Green Capital Award are high. In this article the problem is analysed using the example of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, which strives for a place among cities with the highest quality of life in Europe. The objective of this article is to analyse the areas of the city’s environmental activities and environmental organisation in the context of increasing competitiveness. The original database used by the author in this article consists of the responses given by the governments of the cities who have already been awarded the title of European Green Capital when asked to describe the impact that applying for and achieving the title had on their citie

University implementing its community service role through curriculum development in a regional college

The three roles of a higher education institution are teaching, research and community service. The objective of the article is to analyse how a university regional college can implement the task of community service via its curriculum development. The theoretical base lies on the positions of internationally recognised scientists of education policy as well as OECD definitions and clarifications that are compared to the cases of the regional colleges (in Narva and Kuressaare) of two universities (respectively University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology). The set task enables to study as a whole such components as the content and design of curricula, teaching and assessment methods, extracurricular activities, topics and supervision of students’ research works, cooperation with partners. A comprehensive approach is a precondition of a well-functioning curriculum, with community service being the unifying aspect. The results of current study are applicable in case of the analysed curricula and colleges, they partly applicable in case of any other similar curricula and units. Prerequisites of the colleges' network evolvement, holistic impact and compliance with the region-specific needs is a significant topic the additional study of which has already begun

Wirtschaftliche und soziale Ziele der kommunalen Gebietsreform

The purpose of this paper is to analyze socio-economic goals of the administrative-territorial reform in Estonia. An administrative-territorial reform has been a top issue since in Estonia regained its independence but there are virtually no results. In 1995, a law was passed granting the Government the right to take decisions on the country’s administrative-territorial division. Both the local authorities and the central government can initiate changes in the administrative-territorial division. By the spring of 2012, there were 226 local governments in Estonia, including 193 rural municipalities and 33 cities. The administrative-territorial organisation of Estonia needs changes. The average population of Estonian rural municipalities is less than 2,500 people and, in spite of mergers, there are still inexpedient units where the centrally located settlement is separated from its hinterland in administrative terms. However, one should be objective when preparing and implementing the administrative-territorial reform. The often expressed opinion that decreasing the number of rural municipalities would result in retrenchment of resources in terms of the number of local officials and administrative costs is misleading