The Role of Administrative Contracts in the Field of Public Administration

Background: This scientific paper aims to delve deeply into the concept of administrative contracts and their importance in the field of public administration. Therefore, our goal is to provide a clear and detailed analysis and interpretation for readers, ensuring that all those interested have the opportunity to gain a foundational understanding of the importance and legal consequences of administrative contracts. By means of this paper, treating administrative contracts broadly regarding their development, meaning and importance in the theoretical aspect will positively influence and facilitate their application in practice by the public administration. These contracts, often similar to classical ones, with their content and purpose, are so differentiated that now it is no longer possible to speak of their belonging to one of the existing groups of contracts but of new, independent types of contracts. Methods: This paper employs analytical, normative, historical and comparative methods. The analytical method will be used to analyse administrative contracts in the Republic of Kosovo and their application by state bodies. The normative method will treat the legal provisions that regulate administrative contracts, starting with those within administrative law and extending to provisions in other legal domains. The historical method will illustrate the history of the development of administrative contracts, detailing their past and how they work today. Lastly, the comparative method will compare the development and operation of administrative contracts in the Republic of Kosovo with those in other democratic states mentioned in the paper. Results and conclusions: The administrative contract holds significant importance in public administration, as its primary objective is always to serve the general state interest. Despite being a bilateral legal act, an administrative contract typically involves a public or state administration body as the contracting party, which inherently holds greater power or authority in relation to the other legal entity involved. This power disparity means there is no equal footing between the contracting parties, contrary to the principle of equality observed in civil law and generally required for concluding private contracts.