This book is an outcome of the round table conference held in 1984 in Switzerland. It deals with decision of decentralization, structure of decentralized units, external power of decentralized unit, financial autonomy and decentralization and the protection of the basic rights.

Preface -- Préface -- Decision of Decentralization -- General Report -- La décision de la décentralisation -- National Reports -- Decisions on Decentralization in the Netherlands -- La décision de décentralisation et le statut des collectivités territoriales -- Problèmes de la souveraineté intérieure et extérieure -- Constitutional Problems of Territorial Decentralization in Federal and Centralised States (United Kingdom) -- Constitutional Problems of Territorial Decentralization in Federal and Centralized States - Finland -- Excerpt from the Discussion -- Summary of the Discussion -- Structure of Decentralized Units -- General Report -- Structure of Decentralized Units -- National Reports -- The Yougoslav Federation (also) as a Common Function of the Republics and Provinces - The New Content of Autonomy of the Federal Units -- Quelques aspects de la décentralisation territoriale en Tunisie -- The Concept of the Constitution (Switzerland) -- Nouvelle loi sur l'autogestion territoriale en Pologne -- Decentralization and the Optimalisation of the Local Decision-Making Process -- Summary of the Discussion -- Autonomy of Decentralized Units -- National Reports -- "Structural Decentralization in the Canadian Federal System: Judicial Decisions vs. Political Accommodation" -- L'autonomie des entités décentralisées au Zaïre -- Partially Decentralized Decision-making Bodies within a Centralized Political System: The Case of Turkey -- Autonomy of Decentralized Units in the United States of America -- Excerpt from the Discussion -- Summary of the Discussion -- External Power of Decentralized Units -- General Report -- Le Pouvoir extérieur des Unités décentralisées -- National Reports -- Some Observations Concerning External Power of Decentralized Units -- Parlement et représentation des unités fédérées (Aperçu comparatif et exemple de la Yougoslavie) -- Excerpt from the Discussion -- Summary of the Discussion -- Financial Autonomy -- General Report -- L'autonomie financière -- National Reports -- L'autonomie financière des collectivités locales françaises -- Les relations financières dans l'Etat fédéral d'Autriche -- Financial Autonomy: Australia -- Excerpt from the Discussion -- Summary of the Discussion -- Decentralization and the Protection of Basic Rights -- General Report -- Federalism, Decentralization and Human Rights -- Excerpt from the Discussion -- Summary of the Discussion -- The Relationship between Federalism and Rights -- Final Report -- Reports With General Content -- The English System of Local Government -- Constitutional Problems of Territorial Decentralization in Federal and Centralized States -- Principe de territorialité et principe de personnalité en fédéralisme comparé -- La décentralisation en République Populaire de Chine