This paper presents qualitative research findings and a comparative scale efficiency analysis of the units performing services in the building sector. The analysis is based on two unique regional datasets from two countries, the Slovak Republic (SR) and the Czech Republic (CZ). Performance of building competences in Slovakia is based on the principle of voluntary cooperation of municipalities. In case of the Czech building sector, the competences have been transferred to the newly created municipalities with delegated or extended competences. Both states introduced reforms in public administration with the aim to improve their efficiency, including the performance of building competences. Czech Republic is currently undergoing a recodification of Building Act with unification of building authorities into the system of state building offices. The results of our qualitative research in both states in the period 2014-2019 show insufficient personal management due to low financing of building competences. Using quantitative statistical methods, we came to the conclusion that in Slovakia, a return to the performance of competences by state administration (district offices) instead of building offices (as a part of self-government) would not be effective.

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The authors of the paper deal with the philosophy of the privatization of elements of criminal justice, which in the last decades influenced the development of criminal justice in European countries, including the Slovak Republic. The philosophy of privatization in relation to criminal justice represents a wider acceptance of the individual interests of the subjects of criminal procedure. It is the strengthening of powers of the parties to the proceedings and at the same time the entrusting of criminal dispute solution to their own hands. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to examine the expanding philosophy of privatization of the Slovak criminal justice system (the so-called negotiating procedure, a.k.a. plea bargain agreement) which, with the aim of facilitating and simplifying the resolution of a criminal case, has brought the possibility of negotiating with the State the conditions for admitting the guilt of the accused, in exchange for imposing a less severe punishment. However, the aim of the paper is not only to examine the current legal regulation of this expanding phenomenon but also to show its seamy sides and to present comprehensible and reasonable legal opinion relating to its suitability. In the paper, the authors, therefore, deal with the question of whether the philosophy of privatizing the criminal justice is in compliance with the traditional values of the continental legal system. At the same time, they try to answer whether the philosophy of the so-called negotiated justice is not contrary to the fundamental principles of criminal justice. In the paper, the authors also ask questions like: Can the punishment be subject to negotiating? Is it justified on the ground of the society's morality and fundamental values of the legal system if the State negotiates with the perpetrators of crime the conditions of their confession and the length of the punishment? Does the negotiated punishment fulfill its basic functions (preventative, repressive, protective, moral condemnation by society)?

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Territorial self-government has a significant place in the political system of the Slovak Republic. This fact is confirmed by its emplacement in the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. An inseparable part of self-government are the actors who shape it through their daily activities, most often by their governance in the public interest. This presented paper deals with the issue of local self-government in the conditions of the Slovak Republic, with an emphasis on the selection of its key actors. While expressing our considerations we identify with the assumption that local self-government is a space for political participation of its inhabitants, and in many ways can serve as a model of public administration for actors of public policy at higher levels of the state as well. Due to this reason, our ambition is to provide comprehensive information about the method of selection of directly elected representatives of the local self-government and to conduct critical reflections on the current conditions of this selection.