Geneza konstrukcji nadzoru nad samorządem terytorialnym w departamencie we Francji

The aim of the article is to discuss the close relationship between the centralization of the state system and the maintenance of power — based on the research presented in the excellent work of Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the Revolution. Tocqueville skilfully combined two aspects perceived in the discussion about the genesis of supervision over territorial self-government: the aspect of protection of human and civil rights and the aspect of the Revolution, that took over most of the changes that strengthened the centralism with which the monarchy built up the structure of maintaining power. The aim of the considerations discussed here is to recall the relatively rarely mentioned passages of the texts, that justify the decisive assessments with which Tocqueville closed the analysis of the systemic practice of the monarchy in various fields, showing the timeless role of centralization in strengthening absolute power. Among the several described situations, the importance of independent courts in the protection of individual rights should be emphasized. The article is closed with the summary of the phases of systemic transformation of supervision over the department’s self-government in France.