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Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central Europe, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the medieval rulers of the Romanian-inhabited states and of governors and military commanders of Poles, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Balkans, Russian people and other Slavic languages populations.
In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, voivode was interchangeably used with palatine. In the Tsardom of Russia, a voivode was a military governor. Among the Danube principalities, voivode was considered a princely title.
The title was used in medieval Bohemia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldavia, Poland, Rügen, Russian Empire, Ukraine, Serbia, Transylvania and Wallachia. In the Late Middle Ages the voivode, Latin translation is comes palatinus for the principal commander of a military force, deputising for the monarch gradually became the title of territorial governors in Poland, Hungary and the Czech lands and in the Balkans.
During the Ottoman Greece, the Ottoman Voivode of Athens resided in the ancient Gymnasium of Hadrian.
The Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina descends from the Serbian Vojvodina, with Stevan Šupljikac as Vojvoda or Duke, that became later Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar.
Appointments to the role were usually made until 1775 by the king. The exceptions were the voivodes of Polock and Vitebsk who were elected by a local poll of male electors for confirmation by the monarch. In 1791, it was decided to adopt the procedure throughout the country but the 18th-century Partitions of Poland put a stop to it.Volumina Legum, vol. 9, p. 251, art. 4.3. Polish voivodes were subject to the Incompatibilitas (1569) which prevented them from simultaneously holding ministerial or other civic offices in their area. Polish Online Dictionary of the Academy of Science
His duties included carrying out the orders of individual ministers and taking care of all matters of state administration, excluding tasks falling within the competence of the military, judicial, fiscal, educational, railway, postal and telegraph administration and land offices. Since he had to take care of public security and order in the territory under his control, he was the head of the State Police, in certain situations he could declare a state of emergency and even request military assistance.
The process of organizing and unifying the territorial administration intensified in the 1920s, especially after the May Coup. Their culmination was the regulation of the President of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki, of 1928, on the organization and scope of operation of general administration authorities. This act stipulated that the general administration authorities in the regions were voivodes.
Confidential resolutions of the Council of Ministers issued on 6, 9, and 18 August 1923 established a catalogue of means of influence for the voivodes in relation to all non-combined branches. Since the main task of the voivode was still to ensure security and order, as well as the authority of the government, which required a strong position and quick decision-making, the Council of Ministers, by the regulation of 11 February 1924, enabled voivodes to independently shape the structure of offices subordinate to them and establish departments and divisions with the consent of the minister responsible for a given group of matters and the minister of internal affairs. Only the presidential and budget-economic departments mandatorily existed in each voivodeship office.
Contrary to the provisions of the Act of 1919, the competences of the voivode according to the new legislation was much more wide-ranging. It granted the voivode special supervisory and intervention powers in relation to non-combined administration (). It could convene meetings of heads of non-combined administration bodies for the purpose of coordination their work from the point of view of the interests of the state, demand explanations from them in specific matters and suspend the enforcement of orders contrary to government policy, could also interfere in personnel matters of non-combined administration bodies.
The voivode was nominated by the president, personally subordinated to the minister of internal affairs, to the chairman of the Council of Ministers and to individual ministers. In cyclical reports, the voivodes informed among other things, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other voivodes about the public mood and actions taken, paying attention mainly to the political activity opposed to the ruling camp. In the thirties, the voivode was responsible for the implementation of the goals and policies of the Sanation camp, hence this position was held by people belonging to the most loyal members of the ruling political group.
The tasks of the voivode with the help of the voivodeship departments:
From 1946 the voivode was subjected to social control of the voivodeship national council and was obliged to submit periodic reports to it (actually the presidium) on the general line of his activities. The voivode ceased to be the chairman of the voivodeship national council, but due to the position he held, he was a member of the voivodeship national council. Instead, he was the chairman of the provincial government department (the executive body of the council and elected by it), reporting to the provincial national council in this regard. In according to statue of 20 March 1950, the institution of the Voivode was abolished and his competences was transferred to the Voivodeship National Council and it's presidium.
The Voivode, providing conditions for the Voivodeship National Council to perform its statutory tasks, participated in its sessions and meetings of its presidium, ensured the implementation of the Voivodeship National Council resolutions and decisions of the presidium and submitted reports on their implementation, presented the WRN with draft plans for the social and economic development of the voivodeship and the budget, submitted reports from their implementation and cooperated with the presidium of the Voivodeship National Council in matters related to the implementation of the tasks of the presidium and the preparation of the council session, applied to the presidium to convene a session of the WRN and the subject of its deliberations. In addition, the voivode cooperated with the Voivodeship National Council committees and councillors, assisted them in the implementation of tasks, in maintaining communication with residents and the residents' self-government and in conducting control activities, and presented drafts of major ordinances and decisions to the WRN committees for consultation and informed about the implementation of the committee's conclusions.
Voivodes were served by voivodeship offices. The voivode could also perform some of his tasks with the help of "united field offices, enterprises, plants and institutions" subordinated to him. The functions and status of the voivode were clarified in January 1978 in the regulation of the Council of Ministers. The preamble to this act states, inter alia, that "the voivode, while performing his tasks in the field of managing the national economy in the voivodeship, is guided by the resolutions of the Polish United Workers' Party as the guiding political force of society in socialist construction. This regulation specified the basic rights and duties of the voivode as the representative of the government, the executive and managing body of the Voivodeship National Council and the local state administration body at the voivodeship level." An important competence of the voivode in this function was to exercise control over the implementation of voters' postulates and motions. The voivode, on the basis of the guidelines of the council of ministers, also prepared draft plans for the socio-economic development of the voivodeship and draft budgets, implemented the plan and budget adopted by the voivodeship national council and performed other tasks related to the comprehensive development of the voivodeship and meeting the needs of society, focusing on key problems, especially concerning the complex of agriculture and food economy, improving market supply, housing construction and housing management, as well as meeting the communal and living needs of the population.
It was also specified that the voivode performed and organized the performance of tasks in the voivodeship resulting from the provisions of generally applicable law, orders of the Prime Minister and resolutions of the WRN. Voivodes also controlled the performance by units subordinated and not subordinated to national councils of tasks resulting from laws and other acts of law. In this regard, they had the right to take the necessary decisions to ensure their full implementation.
In 1988 further regulations clarified the voivode's competences and tasks compared to the earlier regulations of 1975 and 1983. As the representative of the central government in the voivodeship, the voivode coordinated the work of all state administration bodies operating in the voivodeship in the field of meeting the needs of the population and socio-economic development of the area; organized control over the performance of state administration tasks in the voivodeship resulting from acts and ordinances, resolutions and orders of the chief state administration bodies; ensured the cooperation of organizational units operating in the voivodeship in the field of maintaining law and order, as well as preventing natural disasters and removing their effects. In addition, he was responsible for the ad hoc tasks commissioned by the council of ministers, the government presidium, the prime minister and the minister responsible for administration. Such a definition of competences constituted a qualitative change in relation to the amended regulation. Acting as a government representative, the voivode also represented the central authorities at state ceremonies and during official meetings in the voivodeship.
The voivode, as a representative of the government, also performed tasks commissioned by the Council of Ministers. He had the right to issue recommendations to local government administration bodies operating in the voivodeship and, in particularly justified cases, he could suspend the activities of each body conducting administrative enforcement for a specified period of time. Special administration bodies and municipal bodies, within the scope of government administration tasks performed by them, were obliged to provide the voivode, at his request, with explanations in every case conducted in the voivodeship. The voivode also issued opinions on the appointment and dismissal of heads of special administration and appointed and dismissed, in consultation with the competent minister, heads of services, inspections and other organizational units. However, in relation to state-owned companies, the voivode issued opinions on candidates for members of supervisory bodies appointed by the representative of the state treasury and had the right to nominate candidates for members of the company's supervisory body.
The position of voivodes at that time was justified by the fact that there was no self-government voivodeship, and the administrative voivodeship was strictly governmental in nature and was headed by the voivode as the land manager, who, together with the local government assembly, represented the voivodeship outside. However, its position was not as strong as before 1990, because the Constitutional Act of 1992 clearly indicated that local government was the basic form of organizing local public life, while other types of local government units were to be defined by law. Also, the establishment of new bodies - financial supervision in the form of the Regional Chamber of Accounts and the Adjudication Committee and Boards of Appeals changed the scope of competences of voivodes.
Within the scope of his competence and competence, the voivode as a representative of the government and the representative of the state's interests could organize control of tasks in the field of government administration, defined detailed objectives of the government's policy in the voivodeship, adapted to local conditions, coordinated the cooperation of all organizational units of government and local government administration operating on in the area of the voivodeship in the field of preventing threats to human life and health, environmental threats, maintaining public order and state security, protecting civil rights, preventing natural disasters, preventing threats as well as combating and removing their effects. The voivode also coordinated tasks in the field of defense and state security in the voivodeship, represented the government at state ceremonies and performed other tasks commissioned by the Council of Ministers. The Small Constitution of 1992 did not assign any special tasks to the voivodes in the field of taking care of the development of the voivodeship or the development of its resources, because already then it was realized that the administrative division into 49 administrative units does not meet the requirements of the time and that the voivode is in fact not the host of region, but a representative of the Council of Ministers and, on its behalf, the Prime Minister.
The voivode, as a representative of the Council of Ministers, was responsible for implementing the government's policy. The voivode's powers also included issuing orders binding on all government administration bodies, and in emergency situations also binding on the bodies of local government units. The voivode could also, in particularly justified cases, suspend the activities of each body conducting administrative enforcement for a specified period of time. On the other hand, the non-combined administration bodies () were obliged to agree with the voivode on the drafts of local law enacted by them, in order to ensure compliance of their activities with the voivode's orders and to submit annual information to the voivode on their activities in the voivodeship. In addition, the voivode's competences included all matters in the field of government administration not reserved for other bodies and supervision over the activities of local government units, representing the State Treasury in relation to state property and exercising other powers resulting from representing the State Treasury and exercising the powers and duties of the founding body towards state-owned enterprises. The voivode, at the request of the staroste, with the opinion of the competent head of the combined service, inspection or voivodeship guard, could create, transform and liquidate organizational units constituting the auxiliary apparatus of the heads of powiat services, inspections and guards, unless separate provisions provided otherwise. Governor could appoint and dismiss the heads of combined services, inspections and guards voivodeships, except for Voivodeship Police Commander, who was appointed after consultation opinion of the voivode.
In addition, the voivode has powers and responsibilities regarding defense in the voivodeship, as specified in the Homeland Defence Act:
In 2001 the powers and competences of the voivodes was reduced as some of their authority was transferred to the Voivodeship sejmik.
Voivodes continue to have a role in local government in Poland today, as authorities of voivodeships and overseers of self-governing local councils, answerable not to the local electorate but as representatives/emissaries of the central government's Council of Ministers. They are appointed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and among their main tasks are budgetary control and supervision of the administrative code.Dziennik Ustaw|2017|2234|(in Polish) Legislative Record of the Polish sejm
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