ВЪЗМОЖНОСТИ ЗА ОЦЕНКА НА АДМИНИСТРАТИВНИЯ КАПАЦИТЕТ НА ОБЩИНИТЕ (ПО ПРИМЕРА НА ОБЩИНА ЛОВЕЧ, БЪЛГАРИЯ).

The assessment of the administrative capacity of a municipality provides an opportunity to answer the questions where is its place among the others and which activities need improvement. To answer these questions, it is necessary to identify those policy areas for which the local authority is responsible, which will be evaluated, and on what criteria the evaluation will be carried out. If we limit ourselves to the notions of administrative capacity, it is clear that individual authors and organizations sometimes put different meanings into them. When politics intervenes, things are completely used in the direction of one or another view of right and wrong. Therefore, most researchers refrain from specifically defining administrative capacity, instead focusing on developing the structural elements that are supposed to form capacity. Capacity cannot be observed directly, information about it can be obtained only by noting the characteristics or values of obvious (observable) factors that indicate its hypothetical or real presence. This logic is also followed in the assessment methodology proposed in the report, as the capacity requirements are determined on the basis of current regulations governing the responsibilities of local government and on the basis of good practices registered at home and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]