A prefecture is a territorial body of state power with authority in a strictly limited place. This option of dividing some parts of the country facilitates the management process. In addition, the presence of their own, albeit small authorities in certain territories has a positive effect on their development. This is much better than a centralized leadership, which may simply not know the features or have a vague idea of the minor problems of the region that are not peculiar to others.
Historical reference
One territorial unit of the Roman Empire is a prefecture. It was this country that gave rise to such a name. This type of separation of the state was considered optimal at that time. Especially when the Empire significantly pushed its borders and was not able to control everything and everywhere. The prefects who controlled these territorial units possessed practically unlimited power on “their lands”.
In fact, as long as they carried out orders from the capital and regularly sent the collected taxes, they could do whatever they wanted. Of course, within the framework of legislation common to the whole Empire. True, they also had to personally answer for their decisions. With the fall of Rome, some elements of the prefectures remained for a long time in Byzantium.
Modern world
Nowadays, a prefecture is just some part of a country or region in which there are authorities responsible for its development. This concept is quite rare and is typical mainly for France and Japan. However, there are prefectures in Russia, as well as in some countries in Africa and South America. Moreover, even the Vatican has its own analogues, though they are understood differently. In principle, most areas or districts more familiar to our hearing can be called prefectures. And this is true for almost all countries of the world.
Prefectures in Russia
In the Russian Federation there are three such territorial units. This is the prefecture of Moscow, Tyumen and Krasnodar. They all work on the same principles and have similar powers and features. These include the following:
- The district prefecture, in the framework of legislation in the field of improvement and housing and communal services, is engaged in the creation of parks and other similar territories. Repairs pavement and related directions. Responsible for the cleanliness of the territory. It controls the activities of subordinate state bodies.
- In the sphere of services, finance, economics and trade, she is involved in attracting investments, works with debtors of the budget, controls the industrial sector and holds auctions.
- The urban development direction of the prefecture creates development plans, suppresses illegal construction, determines its process and so on.
- In the field of housing and property relations, she deals with the problems of the intended use of premises, places street signs and monitors the use of real estate.
All this and much more is regularly carried out by any prefecture. But among other things, she also deals with the areas of infrastructure, transport, labor protection, social policy, interacts with other government bodies and the public, and so on.
Prefectures in Japan
The country of the rising sun is entirely divided into the named territorial units. However, unlike other analogues, Japan’s prefecture is not the right name. The country uses such names as ken, fu, do and then. And all this in a crowd is called prefectures, although they have different functions, capabilities and powers.
To simplify, there are 47 such units in Japan. Each of them has its own prefect, executive and legislative bodies. It should be noted that all of them are conditionally grouped into districts, but such entities have no power and are used only for convenience. Each prefecture, in turn, is divided into counties or counties. A similar state system was introduced back in 1871 and has been successfully operating since then.
Prefectures in France
Unlike other options, in this country this concept has a slightly different meaning. In fact, there is no such territorial unit in France. This is not even stipulated by their constitution. In France, the prefecture is the city in which the building of the head of the department is located. By the way, this building is called exactly the same. In addition, all services that help the head of the department are also named after this. By the way, he himself bears the proud title of prefect.
Other countries
This concept exists in some other countries.
- In the Central African Republic, the prefecture of an administrative district is the main territorial unit.
- This is sometimes called a county in China, although this is incorrect.
- In Greece, this name refers to nomes - their individual territorial units.
- The Holy See also has its own prefecture, but it is more likely a financial department that deals with budgets and deposits, and not part of the country.
- Argentina also has its own option. True, this is a maritime agency.
- Earlier in Albania there were also such parts of the country, but recently they have been renamed in the region.
Sometimes the concept of prefecture is used in an unusual sense, which can cause some confusion. However, in most cases, this is still exactly what our people are used to understanding.
Conclusion
Summing up, we can say that the prefecture is a public authority in a separate territory. It is similar to regions or districts, but with its own characteristics. In different countries, the attitude to this concept is different, and in some cases it can be difficult to understand what exactly is meant.