A Geographical Overview of the Administrativeterritorial Changes at District Level (with a case study on t he Veliko Tarnovo district)

Administrative and territorial division is a major, irrevocable principle of organization and management of each country. Its realization is achieved through a set of regulations and it is part of overall government policy. The main objectives set out in administrative-territorial division of a national territory are directed towards planning, coordination and management of spatial organization of socio-economic and cultural life in the country. It is essential for the administrative-territorial structure that the territorial boundaries of the individual units overlap in highest degree with the actual borders within which the socio-economic processes run. In the new realities and challenges in a country all the administrative and territorial changes acquire new requirements: ？ as a factor for implementation of transition to a balanced and sustainable development of all the parts of the country; ？ it is necessary to be functionally linked to the policy of regional development and spatial planning; ？ to provide relatively equal access of the population to the civil services; ？ to allocate effectively and fairly the financial resources in the national space