Constantin Stere's View on the Self-Government of Romania's Sub-National Territorial Collectivities in the First Decades of the 20th Century.

Contemporary democratic states make a clear distinction between the matters of national importance and those of regional or local importance. The population of sub-national territorial collectivities, by means of the elected deliberative or executive public authorities, handle an important part of the regional- and local-interest affairs. Thus, the level of local self-government development may be deemed an index of democratic development of the contemporary states. A century ago, the professor, publicist, writer and politician Constantin Stere (1865-1936) used to treat the issues of sub-national territorial collectivity self-government considering the historical, national, and mainly rural particularities in die Romanian area. C. Stere considered that the local self-government phenomenon might and could be treated just starting from the necessity of upholding human rights and liberties, especially the right to elect and be elected within the deliberative and executive public authorities. The results of C. Stere's research have not lost their relevance and may serve as theoretical grounds for the study and settlement of issues regarding public affairs governance at regional and local level in the contemporary Romanian space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]