Democratic or autocratic changes belong to very important subjects of the current political science research. Most studies on this topic have concentrated so far on the national level, while they are also important at local and regional levels.

The project (National Science Centre, OPUS 20, no. 2020/39/B/HS5/01016), carried out by the Polish researchers in cooperation with foreign universities, is aimed at investigating changes going in either democratic or autocratic direction within the local and regional structures in a state as well as their relationship with the similar processes at the national (central) level – focusing on the impact of the national tier on lower territorial levels. The case of Poland will be studied in the years 2010-2024 (three full legislative periods of local and regional structures – emphasis on cities and voivodeships respectively), including the time of pandemic. It is a pilot study, which will be continued after the end of the project.