Abstract
For the analysis of the pressures of decentralization on a political system at the turn of the 20th to 21st century have been chosen three dissimilar cases: 1) the case of a successful and non-conflictive devolution of a state unit (Czechoslovakia), 2) the case of the successful establishment of a federalization which did not prevent the strengthening of centrifugal tendencies but so far it has not lead to the realization of the requirement to divide the state unit (Belgium), and finally 3) the case when devolution has opened space for a referendum about independence of one part of the state unit (United Kingdom). The chosen cases are not dissimilar only by the "outcome of the decentralization policy " but also by the character of their society, in which these processes took place, or are still taking place.
While Belgium and the United Kingdom have come across the process of decentralization from the position of a stable democratic system, the case of Czechoslovakia is an example of disintegration in the process of transition that was at a time of significant social as well as political change. That is why it is often put as a contrast to the tragic happenings accompanying the devolution of former Yugoslavia or is put into the same category as the Spanish transition.
The question answered in the article is: What can the comparison of processes that took place or are still taking place in a democracy as well as at times of the creation of democracy as a political system offer?