Public Administration – Main Factor in Successful Management of Coastal Area Development in Republic of Croatia

The modern society requires a rational, professional, stable and socially accountable public administration that serves its citizens. Analysis of the status and functioning of the Croatian public administration shows that there are still many shortcomings and problems that must be solved. This paper outlines the basic characteristics of public administration as a set of structures and processes aiming to start and implement the policies in accordance with the public interest. Also, it explores the way and the level of success of managing the common good, with special attention given to the management of the coastal area, whereas the management of the coastal area is defined as an activity comprising different levels of management – local, regional, national and international. The author stresses the need to coordinate the different levels and emphasize the importance of organizing the work process and the capabilities of the managing structure. This is necessary because the public administration often makes decisions directly influencing the citizens' quality of life on a local and individual level. Given that the public administration has a great amount of power in all countries, it must be controlled. The author states that beside self control of public administration it is also needed to conduct the additional control. That kind of control is necessary due to the inestimable value of Croatia's coastal and other resources. Based on the results of the research the author suggests measures to improve a continued and efficient control. Public administration – main factor in successful management of coastal area development ...


INTRODUCTION
The citizens expect the public administration to be efficient, competent, modern and to be kept within the framework of the country's budget, both today and in the future.Public administration in all it domains (wealth, security, education, transport, traffic and etc.) must recognize the citizens' needs and the society's possibilities and strive to meet European standards.Such public administration is considered a partner by a democratic society.A transparent administration cooperates with the citizens; it is open, friendly, professional and responsible.If efficient, administration does not represent a "cost", or more efficient the cost is always here, but there is a possible significant benefit.The administration's structures must be simple and coordinated.The civil society has a responsibility in controlling public administration.
Author's analysis of the Croatian public administration shows that these characteristics are only partly implemented in the administration's functioning.This is especially true for the management 1 of the coastal area and its development, which has been entirely given to the public administration on different levels with overlapping powers (national, county, local).Managing the development and natural resources, especially those of the coastal area, is a complex and dynamic activity which entails the meeting, clash and cancelling out of different aspects (such as economics, ecological, legal, ...) and hence requires the public administration to be transparent and efficient.Meanwhile, due to the system's complexity it is not always possible to foresee the outcome, which is why managing decisions are necessary, but they must the grounded in trustworthy information and the decision maker's responsibility.
This paper aims to point to the complexity of the public administration and the importance of its continual control in order to establish and delegate responsibilities.Also, it wishes to suggest suitable measures to improve the public administration's efficiency based on the analysis of current state.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
Public administration from its beginning as an institution had a numerous reforms.The reforms included: 1) transition from a patrimonial 2 to professional management, but to this day the public administration continues to be a central institution of the state system, 2) instead of a vertical there was a horizontal functional integration, that is, differentiation by which the society is changed and adapted through specialized activities, professions and institutions, and the public administration becomes one of the specialized areas.Within these units the public administration still retains a vertical administrative hierarchy, 3) in parallel with the differentiation of the society there was an inner differentiation of the state, that is, governmental and other organizations appear around the public administration and related organizations, through which the government achieves its objectives.
Nowadays, in the 21 st century, Croatia's public administration and public enterprises engaged in activities of public interest brings together governmental and other organisations and constitutes the public sector.Public administration activities are: (i) direct implementation of laws and adoption of legislation for their implementation, (ii) carrying out administrative supervision and (iii) other administrative and professional activities.These activities may be delegated to local self-government units and legal entities outside the state system that have public authority.
In order to clarify the relation between the public administration and the state it is important to stress that the public administration's only source of financing is the state budget.
The present local self-government system in Croatia was established in 1993, when the act defining the territorial organization, scope of self-governance, election system and financing of local self-government was passed, and it was brought to life with the first local elections 1.
Local self-government units are municipalities and towns and cities, while counties are regional self-government units.Croatia has established a total of 555 local self-government units, out of which 429 municipalities and 126 towns and cities, and 20 regional self-government units, that is, counties.The City of Zagreb, the capital of the Republic of Croatia, has a special status of both a city and a county 3 .
Author's analysis of the work of Croatia's public administration indicates that: 1) it is fragmented and inefficient, 2) for the most part it cannot the self-financed and it has to much staff, 3) it is operation is too sluggish and bureaucratic, 4) it is often employs unskilled staff in crucial positions.
There are many opinions on the level and form of decentralization that Croatia requires.The opinion of the profession is that the priority in the public administration reform should be its decentralization and specialization.Although the dynamics of the reform is defined by both financial and actual capabilities, it is necessary to encourage decentralization and convergence of the administration to citizens.Strengthening political accountability, transparency of work and decision-making would help achieve positive results of decentralization.However, lack of central control with regards to the protection of legality, financial operations and citizens' rights could prove to be dangerous.The author believes that the goal should be to strengthen the laws, because that entails the possibility to achieve balance of these requirements.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE COASTAL AREA IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
It is an indisputable fact that the coastal area, the sea and islands are Croatia's greatest natural and economic resource.The coastal area (Fig. 1) and islands are also the site of dynamic and inter-related natural processes fuelled by the interaction of the sea and the land and an area affected by development pressures.The length of Croatian costal line is the 6278 km, from which the 1880 km is land part and 4398 km island part.It is important to mention that Croatia is the 3 rd state in Europe by measuring the costal line 2; p. 293.
The Croatian coast and the possible adverse effects that have or may have unwanted consequences regarding ecological systems have not yet been properly identified and evaluated.Recently the Adriatic coast has seen a decrease in industrial production as a result of transition, that is, privatization, and less due to improved awareness.
Croatia is a developing country struggling with many limitations when it comes to managing the development of the coastal area.However, due to the fact that it is not completely developed, it has many advantages and possibilities compared to other coastal countries.Tourism plays a major part in Croatia's development.Its development entails the improvement of other sectors of the economy.A long history of coastal planning in Croatia has resulted in the preservation of many valuable areas along the coast despite pressures created by urbanization, industrialization and constructions due to tourism in the last few decades.A partially established demesne management system through a concession also contributes to this.These are all advantages compared to the coastal countries that emphasize the importance of private property and has sold parts of their coast and legalized property over demesne.Considering the limitations in managing the development of coastal area, they are primarily related to the functioning of public administration and its organizational and professional capabilities.Furthermore, there is also the choice of development path, and it is logical that every intense growth leads to uncontrolled development and has unwanted consequences to ecological systems.Islands are the especially threatened parts of Croatia's coastal area.The problem also lies in the social and economic state of the islands.Government's measures to improve the position of the islands so far have not yielded positive developments, despite the existence of a strategy on a national level.Migration and decrease in the number of population are still the dominant social and economic characteristics of Adriatic islands.Another challenge the islands face are the municipal problems.Due to limited area and weak utility services, the possibility of managing solid waste on the mainland is also being considered, among others.A part of these problems is also present in the coastal area.
Despite many planning documents on the establishment of a comprehensive coastal area managing system, it has not been yet implemented 3; p.1051.Another major problem is the lack of appropriate cooperation between the relevant ministries and state administration.
There are no specific norms in the existing legislation that would target the management of the coastal area as a whole.There are no sufficient capacities to prepare the different plans in accordance with the EU legislation and requirement; also there are difficulties in implementing the legislation adopted on a national level and its implementation on the local level, that is, policies that are not easily implemented on lower levels.Also, discrepancies between the laws governing coastal management and organization have been identified.
Other than the problem of institutional capacity, there is also a problem on the level of intellectual capacity 4 which is not in the function of managing the coastal area.The public administration has problems with implementing the modern methodology in managing the coastal area due to lack of knowledge and practical skills.However, even with the deficiencies in using the geographic information system (GIS) for the purposes of coastal planning and managing certain results have been accomplished.Most municipalities and towns, as well as state-owned enterprises managing the infrastructure now have digital databases.The problem lies in integrating these databases into a joint information system.
In the area of spatial planning a significant number of experts, planners is now in smaller businesses, whose primary interest is to remain on the market, and there are not enough investments in the development and the implementation of methods and techniques.
Also it is necessary to state that regardless that public administration at the state level and local self-governments are the part of the same organization regarding managing and developing the coastal area their goals sometimes are very different.For example the local government for specific port area planes in their official documents (such as county spatial plans) that this area will be the green zone but the state for the same area plans to build a new container terminal and because this area falls in domain of port of international significance it will be built a container terminal regardless the opinion of local government or their citizens.Also there are examples of the lacks of effectiveness of public administration on both levels in terms of managing coastal area.For example the local government (special body of local government -Department of the maritime domain and concessions) gives a concession of the beach to a private subject A and in the same time the different body (state or local) gives the concession of a hotel connected to the beach to private subject B. So, now there is situation where guests of the hotel near sea cannot use the beach and as the result of this conflict or mismanagement is poor business performance of both private subjects and termination of the concession from by one of the subjects.
Thus, it can be concluded that managing the development of the coastal are through public administration should ensure advantages on both state and local level in order to improve the quality of life, whereas public administration must create the necessary preconditions to ensure an equal development.

FUNCTIONS AND INSTRUMENTS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RELEVANT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COASTAL AREA
Coastal areas are very complex regions subject to economic activities and natural structures; hence, conflicts, as well as the incompatibility of structures are often inevitable.In order to prevent this, it is important to continually prepare the information needed so that informed decisions on a problem are made.Here the aggravating circumstance is that the jurisdiction of institutions relevant for certain activities is not always horizontally integrated.The place of making decisions is on different levels, as well as the origin of the conflict of various levels, from national to international.
The problem that appears in institutionalizing the management of coastal area is an organization's success and capability to act on various levels, as well as the coordination between specific levels and organizations.According to the research and recommendations of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the activities of spatial planning and of environmental agencies should made on national, regional and local level, while authorities for water and urban infrastructure should be established exclusively on local and regional levels 5.Also, agencies for specific economic activities should be established on a national and local level.There must be appropriate links and flow of functions must exist between vertical and horizontal managing units.Given that the managing structure on a local level often faces development pressures, it must be competent and efficient and act proactively.

FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN MANAGING COASTS AS A SPECIAL AREA
Managing coastal area and its development entails activities not different from the activities in a business system.These are planning, managing, deciding, monitoring and evaluating.
Planning regulates and defines pre-planned tasks that must be carried out in the future, including the necessary activities and means that must be used to achieve the optimal objective and appropriate results.Project managing is the basis of managing and can be defined as giving instructions and guideline in achieving the desired goals.Deciding and choosing the optimal decision removes obstacles and enables continual marching towards the future and thus ensures development.
Planning allows public administration to choose modalities and instruments to manage development of the coastal area.Hence, the following actions are necessary:  long-term planning policies should be made into short-term ones,  objectives and plan guidelines should be transformed into specific and recognisable elements of development,  general and global plans should be defined through strategic projects, and  major uncertainties should be made less uncertain and in accordance with the development.
Planning activity is finished once a plan to be publicly presented to users and performers of specific activities in the coastal area is made.
Managing must be based on trusted and accurate information.Otherwise, it is difficult to make the right decisions.Thus, it can be concluded that the information system is an important factor of the decision-making process, but also of the entire coastal area management system.The public administration has a number of different data, from those related to the natural system, to those concerning human activities and laws.This data must be used transparently and responsibly, because the decisions that are not made on time or are wrong affect the development, and the society as a whole.This is why monitoring is necessary.Monitoring means a set of activities, from surveillance and evaluation of state of the environment to determining the need to intervene in the environment 6; p.345, 7.Monitoring means not only passively gathering information, but also actively analysing and evaluating the state of the environment.The role of monitoring in the management of coastal area is to directly contribute to the protection of natural resources by evaluating the state of the environment and to encourage a positive relation in coastal areas in an indirect way.
Within the framework of public administration monitoring is performed by the part of system (input sector).Monitoring is established within the relevant institutions and administrative services directly responsible for development and the environment, and many data has already been saved in these institutions.In this case it is necessary to gather them in a unique database from which it can be used in the process of evaluating certain areas.If the data has not been collected and saved in a unique database, it is necessary to implement monitoring through institutes or institutions of higher education.
The process continues by analysing the collected data in order to establish to what extent the activities of the coastal management programme are targeted towards the problems defined by objectives and their solution.If the evaluation process shows that there is a need to adapt the functioning of the programme, the work methods should be evaluated before they are implemented.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION INSTRUMENTS IN THE FUNCTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL AREAS
Programmes and projects and measures and instruments are the instruments public administration uses to perform its activities on a regional and local level and to shape its processes and actions in order to achieve sustainable and permanent development, regulate natural structures and social activities processes.
One of the most common ways of managing the coastal area is educating the population of all strata focusing on recognising and preserving the basic cultural and natural values.Public management projects are focused on the encouragement and implementation of modern technological solutions into a outdated and inert economic structure.Spatial plans that have a long-term effect on the development of the coastal area by defining the activities of a certain area hold a special place 7.
The next type of public administration instruments are so called "measures" and their means.All branches of the economy strive to achieve the greatest possible success and use, while ignoring the consequences of the actions of economic activities.Public administration as a representative of authority, regardless of management level, encourages people to change their way of life and work even with interventions.There are two ways of intervening in protection and improving the environment:  laws and regulations and  stimulations which are altered arbitrarily.
Laws and regulations mean a strategy widely used at all levels of government and for all purposes.Stimulations changed arbitrarily as economic instruments are not as widely implemented as laws and regulations.Laws and regulations are a part of the basic factors of the institutional infrastructure and entail the use of certain permits based on either established criteria or actual implementation.Permits containing the power of regulation are usually standardized because they are easier to implement in such form.
Stimulations almost always use the economic instruments because it the basic purpose is the creation of a monetary incentive aimed at potential polluters to reduce pollution within their scope of activities.Here the government policy which aims to improve the environment by producing monetary stimuli for voluntary and not obligatory decrease of action stands out.Monetary incentives appear in two basic forms: as new income or as avoided cost.This type of instruments has been used in the USA for more than thirty years, and it was first applied in Europe in 1980.
The use of such instruments appeared because laws and regulations as regulatory instruments had become inefficient.In contrast, stimulations as economic instruments have been proven as more efficient, promotive, stimulative and restrictive.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION CONTROL
Public administration has many powers in all countries, which is why it requires a high degree of control.Given that control is a continued control activity the authorized subjects exert over the behaviour of the administration, the way it uses its authorities and acts 8, in case of Croatia this control must be not only continued, but also efficient.Here it is especially important that citizens directly participate in the decision-making process as well as the appropriate political representation, because such model created the premise of rational management and the rule of the philosophy of governance in the local self-government.The control of public administration presupposes the control of legality and the control of purposefulness.

MEANS OF POLITICAL CONTROL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Means of political control are the means aimed at influencing the public administration with regards to its role in the mechanism of political power, that is, the political system.Very early on people became aware of public administration's potential to serve as a stronghold of the government.Therefore they tried to limit and weaken this potential.On the one hand, control over the public administration means verifying whether the public administration works in accordance with the political, technical or legal criteria on which its actions are based.On the other hand, it means that the legitimate holders of supervisory power may have a crucial influence on the administration and veer it towards an efficient exercise of its objectives in an optimal manner 8.Pusić divides the means of political control into two main groups: organizational and functional 9.
Means of political control of the public administration are not an exclusive characteristic of democratic regimes.Some of these means are implemented in various types of undemocratic and even totalitarian regimes.Therefore, we can call them means of political technique.
According to Pusić, a successful implementation of functional means implies those exerting control are timely and reliably informed on the state of affairs and also implies the administration's responsibility to work in accordance with the set criteria, including the practical possibility to sanction the officers and civil servants of public administration 8.The citizens' ability do make decisions as a form of means of political control signifies that all citizens threw its chosen delegates take part in influencing decisions and making decisions related to the public aid.

PROMOTING POLITICAL, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIVE AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY
The issue of responsibility in public administration is the fundamental issue related to control.Responsibility is examined with regards to action in accordance with some criteria.Responsibility also includes the practical possibility of sanctioning decision-makers, the administrative structure and employees, that is, public administration officials.The citizens' ability do make decisions as a form of means of political control signifies that all citizens with political rights take part in making the decisions related to public administration through their elected representatives.However, there are limitations that hinder the process of the development of Croatian civil society related to the low level of participation on the part of the citizens and the financial problems of the middle classes (such as financial.It is a fact that civil society cannot flourish without the development of the citizenship.Citizens have no experience in organizing and influencing the decision-making process.
Public administration is distrustful to civil initiatives, and Croatia's civil society is still in its early development stage.It is marked by a low degree of civil behaviour characterized by very low level of participation of citizens in civil organizations and volunteering and giving for the purposes of the common good.Public administration and civil organizations share a relatively low level of cooperation.The existing relation is mainly related to giving financial means to organizations.The partnership of public services and civil organizations is still an unknown concept to the society.Various administrative bodies, civil and public, are relatively unknown.However, it is encouraging that a growing number of commissions on important social issues include the representatives of the civil society.

CONTROL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS AN INCENTIVE TO THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COASTAL AREA
In order to achieve efficient management of the coastal area, one of Croatia's greatest resources it is important to have an appropriate system of control over all public administration bodies that are involved in the managing process in any way.Such system implies clearly defined goals for the management of the coastal area, the existence of continuity in monitoring their implementation and the ability to act and take appropriate measures when necessary.The control system in the field on managing coastal area in implemented through four basic subsystems:  political system, which defines long-term coastal management objectives and the criteria for the implementation of different scenarios,  legislative system, all applicable international conventions, national laws and regional/local regulations necessary for the implementation of this policy,  financial system, which ensures the necessary financial means, and  executive system, which defines the scope of responsibility for all activities related to the management of the coastal area.

MEASURES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM IN MANAGING OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COASTAL AREA
Analysis of interest groups 10 represents one of the crucial steps in the management of the coastal area.The next step is the solution of problems, which is the process of observing and establishing and bridging the gap between the current situation and the objective.That is, a long-term accomplishment, and it is represented in general, for example, as the improvement of results in shipbuilding and port activities.The decision-making process, a vitally important step towards the achievement of the objective is a selective process of choosing the solution that will most probably help achieve the desired objective among two or more solutions.The public administration management is expected to: 1) abandon the traditional way of thinking so that public administration can become an intelligent organization based on intellectual capital 11, which encourages development.This is achieved by defining the individual objectives:  economica systematic evaluation of sea and coastal resources based on the principles of sustainable development for the purposes of efficient management,  socialincreasing the standard of living of the population of the coastal area while respecting the principles of the organization of space and the needs of the people living and working in the area,  ecologicalsustainable development of sea and coastal resources, their rational use and protection in all elements and stages of their use, as well as the encouragement development while respecting a holistic approach, 2) strives to the efficient management of sea and coastal resources as a special objective through the implementation of a function and organization model based on the modern decision-making theory and implementable models and modern information systems.
Public administration control and its responsibility in managing the public good by acting in accordance with the common good has a special importance in today's world of globalization and the promotion of interests of capital and ownership.On the one hand, control over the public administration means verifying whether the public administration works in accordance with the political, technical and legal criteria on which its actions are based.On the other hand, it means that the legitimate holders of supervisory power may have a crucial influence on the public administration and veer it towards an efficient exercise of its objectives in an optimal manner.The most important organizational means of political control is decentralization.Decentralization means any weakening of influence of a certain centre of an organizational system on the parts of the system.This means that political control can be implemented in order to diminish the influence of certain centres of political power on certain centres of the public administration, and also to loosen the ties between the administrative apparatus.The responsibility of public administration, which is at the service of the citizens, is seen in its acting according to the set criteria.Public administration has the moral and every other responsibility in acting and making decisions on matters of public interest for all activities it does by using the means and resources (the common good) it has been entrusted with.
The spatial planning measures necessary for the achievement of an equal and balanced development of the coastal area are:  reducing the gap between the process of making the plans and the process of implementing the plans: This is a general problem affecting many countries and it is difficult to eliminate because different functions are often given to different organizations.However, certain mechanisms and instruments can be introduced to reduce the gap.Regional management is an approach which is a part of the new modes of governance 12.New modes of governance are focused on the development process and require certain social and emotional skills (soft skills, teamwork, group management, communication abilities, etc.), but also the networking of planners and enforcers, efficient control instruments, etc. Croatia, which is about to access the EU, now has a greater possibility to create and manage an efficient regional development policy.Identification of the Adriatic region in accordance with the European classification of statistical regions has created clear territorial and spatial basis for the formulation of the policy of integral management of the Adriatic coast. expanding and strengthening the coordination capabilities of spatial planning: Spatial planning serves spatial coordination; however, it faces limitations when it comes to coordination with other dimensions (time and content).Coordination efforts surpassing spatial planning would be easier achieved within the framework of regional development programmes.After the latest changes in the Croatian legislation related to spatial planning and construction, as well as environment protection, today the jurisdiction for these areas and spatial programming is given to county self-government units 13.Technically, it has enabled a harmonized cooperation.However, in reality frequent organizational division of labour forces causes the establishment of different departments, institutes, enterprises and agencies, which hinders the process.The creation of different regional development programmes which are being processed will enable the definition of the existing state and of new objectives, measures and instruments for their implementation, and the establishment of set planning objectives control and evaluation mechanisms.This is why it is necessary to group activities through only one organizational form and the author suggest that an agency for the management of the coastal area development be established.It would collect data and work proactively for the development of the coastal area.

CONCLUSIONS
Democratization is a basic value developed through political decentralization and the strengthening of local self-government and through economic values such as efficiency, effectiveness and frugality.The expansion of political decentralization and local units autonomy can by no means affect the autonomy of public institutions performing local public services, that is, firm control by the central government must not be replaced by an equally firm control exerted by local political elite.
The realization of these values is possible through the expansion of the scope of local activities (such as preliminary projects, in depended and higher budget and similar) autonomy of local units in the process of making decisions and conducting public activities and reducing the control of central government administration, strengthening local units capacities for the economical, efficient and effective performance of activities and ensuring the equality of citizens and a more effective civil rights protection.
The management of the coastal area and its development has been entrusted to the public administration and bodies with special authorities.It is a process in which complex decisions are made.Decisions are not usually made by one participant, but they are rather a result of different and plans of all interest groups.They come from different sectors (domains) and work on different institutional levels, and each must be timely and appropriately informed.
Coastal area management deals with contradictory problems of different sectors such as spatial and regional development, environment protection, zoning, economic development and aspects of social and cultural development.At the same time coastal areas always represent a part of the local territory and are within a specific region.That is why it is necessary to bring the local processes closer to citizens through decentralization within the local units and creation of conditions for rationalization of their territorial structure.To achieve this it is necessary to consider development as a qualitative measure which requires a holistic approach, especially on the part of management structures.This implies the functioning of the total coastal area development strategy because each change in any element causes consequences affecting the entire coastal area.

REMARKS 1
Coastal area is a resource subject to intense economic activities and, consequently, conflict and incompatibility of structures in often inevitable.
2 Paternalism, derived from the Latin word pater, meaning father, signifies a relation in which the administration has a paternal attitude towards its citizens.The citizens were treated as children, and not adults, which is why the ruler and its administration should look after them.The administration knows what is good for the citizens and runs the public services and the entire country accordingly, and the citizens must obey and accept that the administration is older and smarter.