Decentralization : basic theoretical issues

The article examines decentralization as a feature of organizational structures. In order to show the complexity of decentralization, the analysis comprises four perspectives. In the subject perspective, the structural characteristic of decentralization is indicated and its specificity in public organizations is pointed out. The object perspective distinguishes components of the concept of decentralization and forms (types) of decentralization of the state and implementation of public tasks. In the teleological perspective, the objectives of decentralization, its advantages and disadvantages as well as limitations are indicated. The last perspective - processual - allows to demonstrate two additional features of decentralization, i.e., its gradualness and dynamics.