Japanese inspirations for the development of local self-governance in Poland

Theoretical issues originating from the sphere of constitutional administrative law are relatively rarely presented in studies with the use of comparative tools. One of the reasons for such a state of affairs is probably the mutual nonuniformity of system solutions, pertaining to models adopted with regard to the organisation of local government by particular states around the world. Limitation of workshop possibilities of a researcher-comparatist in this respect only to functional comparative law tools (institutional comparative law seems to be unsuitable in this case) results in the fact that studies devoted to the comparison of local government models of neighbouring states are few and far between, not to mention comparisons of states originating from completely different legal cultures. The comparison of local government systems of Poland and Japan, made in spite of the aforementioned trend, with particular focus on elements of the civil society present in both countries – albeit in a different manner – constitutes a platform for observations on the present reality, as well as a source of surprising inspirations for the development of the idea of local government in Poland.