Local autonomy, local government and ethnic minorities

Paper focuses on potential of diverse and flexible forms of local autonomy application in regulation of inter-ethnic relations and in satisfaction of minority rights and needs. The concept of autonomy is briefly characterised and specified, including various partial forms of autonomy according to th e political and legal aspects, spatial aspects and formation (top-down and bottom-up). At the local level, besides two main forms of autonomy - spatia l and personal, I outline more holistic "extensive local autonomy", that ov ercomes traditional meanings of autonomy. More attention is paid to prevail ing understanding of local autonomy - as autonomy of local government. In t his case, important role of decentralisation, relation between autonomy and self-government, as well as relations to the other levels of government an d lines of power (executive, legislative, and judiciary) are emphasised. Be sides crucial political autonomy, I discuss fiscal autonomy and Various oth er possibilities for functional autonomy. Potential of autonomous instituti ons based on personal autonomy should not be underestimated also at the loc al level. Larger section of the paper addresses the most known concrete for ms of autonomy applied in regulations of inter-ethnic relations and minorit y needs satisfaction. They cover autonomy of parallel local governments, au tonomy of sub-local governments, autonomy of functional local governments, as well as informal bottom-up cases based on personal and institutional aut onomy. as are informal autonomous parallel governments, informal sub-local and functional autonomies. Their main features, advantages, as well as risk s in practical application are discussed, including some normative aspects. I reveal high potential of various autonomous structures at the local leve l. Nevertheless, I recommend applying them as a responsible local autonomy. It should be arranged by combination of various institutions with autonomo us position, but circumscribed by guarantees for civil rights and democracy expressed in constitution. legislature and protected by independent courts .