LEGISLATIVE REGULATION OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINIAN CITIES

After the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence in 1991, local self-government in Ukraine is not regulatedseparately for such administrative-territorial units as cities (exceptions are cities with a special status). Most authorsonly state this fact, but do not make constructive suggestions aimed at improving the situation.The purpose of the article is to consider and analyze the modern laws of Ukraine, which implemented the legalregulation of local self-government in the cities of Ukraine.The study of the laws of Ukraine regulating local self-government gave grounds to note that the peculiarities of localself-government in cities are fragmented in the Law “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine”, Electoral Code and arecompletely absent in such important laws-sources of municipal law as Law “On Voluntary Association of TerritorialCommunities”, “On the Status of Deputies of Local Councils”. Regarding the latest act, the following directionsof amendments aimed at differentiating the status of deputies of local councils of rural and urban settlements areproposed: differences in the rights and responsibilities of deputies of local councils and taking into account differentquantitative composition of local councils (depending on the number of members); accordingly – more or less complexinternal structure of local councils, their executive bodies.It is noted that with the adoption on February 5, 2015 of the Law “On Voluntary Association of TerritorialCommunities” at the present stage of municipal reform began to follow the trend of refusing to unify local governmentin urban and rural areas (in connection with the introduction of the institute of elders). Proposals for amendments toArt. 7 of this Law “Preparation of decisions on voluntary association of territorial communities” and on supplementingArt. 8 “Formation of a united territorial community” paragraph 1-1 in the proposed wording.

Self-organized bodies of population and the local government’s nature concepts

The purpose of the article is to formulate recommendations for improving the effectiveness of legal regulation of the creation and functioning of self-organization of the population’s bodies in Ukraine based on the analysis of theories about the nature of local self-government. The Concept of administrative reform in 1998 stipulated, that the main task of municipal reform is to eliminate shortcomings that significantly affect the implementation of management activities. It should be emphasized that this task is still being performed. Therefore, during the reform, during its legislative provision, special attention should be paid to the study, analysis, generalization and implementation of the best domestic and international experience in the field of local self-government development. One of the important practical tasks at this stage is to revive the participation of the population in the implementation of local democracy, including - in the work of self-organization of the population (hereinafter - BSOP), - house, neighborhood, street, etc. committees. An important scientific task is the doctrinal support of this process. It should be emphasized that the contribution of jurists, first of all, is to create an effective regulatory framework for the establishment and functioning of the JI bodies as an element of the system of local self-government. The article considers theories of local self-government, which deal with its nature - public, state, public-state theories. On the basis of the analysis of these theories conclusions about the characteristic policy concerning bodies of self-organization of the population in case of use in the state of this or that theory is made. In particular, the author argues that the effective development of the BSOP as an integral part of the system of local self-government will contribute to: 1) the definition at the state level of the theory of local self-government; 2) consistent implementation of the provisions of this theory in current legislation. At the present stage in Ukraine this does not happen, which significantly inhibits the development of the institution of self-organization of the population. Prospects for further research in this area are seen in the need to provide more detailed recommendations for effective regulation of the establishment and operation of house, neighborhood, etc. committees.

UKRAINIAN MUNICIPAL REFORM: CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS

The purpose of the article is a teleological and formal analysis of the related to municipal reform constitutional-conceptual documents approved by public authorities. This topic is relevant to the contemporary urgent constitutional problems, because at the beginning of 2020 President of Ukraine announced his plans to initiate changes to the Constitution 1996 about the local government. The main methods of the research include classical legal science methods. The author uses formal analysis, synthase, inductive and deductive approach to the problems, covered by the article. While looking at the text of Ukrainian Basic Law 1996 and other documents, the author uses the most common methods of legal interpretation (original intention method, purposivism and other). Results. The author analyzes the constitutional basis of the ongoing Ukrainian municipal reform, that was launched in 1998. Since that time, the Head of the Ukrainian state (President), the Parliament of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine) and the Government of Ukraine (Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine) participated in the regulation of this reform. Their actions can’t be characterized as concerted, that is why the biggest part of the documents aim the same results (efficient local self-government according to the European municipal standard and best foreign practices). But the ways of reaching this result differs a lot – it might be revision of the administrative-territorial division, it might be decentralization of the public power, it might be deconcentrating of the local self-government bodies’ competence. Conclusion. The author recommends, firstly, to revise the concepts of the local self-government reform in Ukraine – as some of the documents, that are really out-of-the-date, should be cancelled. Secondly, all of the existed documents should be analyzed, and in case if there is some interesting and perspective proposal – it can be included to the last version of the Municipal Reform Concept. Thirdly, like the last Concept, they should include not only actions, but actions accompanied by the timeline.

INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FUNDAMENTALS OF MUNICIPAL REFORM IN UKRAINE

The article examines the formation and development of local self-government of the Ukrainian state and their compliance with European legal standards of local democracy. It was revealed that at present the development of the Ukrainian state is impossible without the functioning of an effective institution of local self-government as an integral element of civil society and the rule of law. It has been established that the completion of the long- term reform of local self-government, taking into account the European legal standards of local self-government, will make it possible to speak about the establishment of a real civil society and a rule of law in Ukraine. It is noted that recently the constitutional principles of local self-government have begun to lag behind the real state of existence and functioning of this subsystem of public power. And this, in turn, leads to the inhibition of its further progressive development and improvement. Moreover, the current post-Soviet model of local self-government in Ukraine is characterized by internal contradictions: on the one hand, a combination of organizational and legal forms inherited from Soviet times with models formed during modern Ukrainian statehood; on the other hand, the latest models of public administration at the territorial level unsystematically combine borrowing from several, sometimes directly opposite, Western models of administrative structure. It is noted that the perception of foreign experience, especially in the field of rule- making and rule-making, is quite a difficult task, because here it is necessary to introduce into the legal system of one state, through appropriate borrowing mechanisms, the legal norms of another state. of these, will lead to legal and administrative conflicts. It is noted that the use of European legal standards for building local self-government in Ukraine should become the basis and standard for the practical implementation of a systemic set of reforms in the management system at the local and regional level.

Dynamics of Russian Cities Budget Autonomy in the Transition to Multi-Level Governance

Throughout the period after the municipal reform in 2003, the governing of Russian cities has been changing. A city as an object of governance is located at the intersection of interests of different levels of public authorities and is not limited only to local authorities This article investigates how budget autonomy of Russian cities has been changing for the last 16 years, and how exogenous economic shocks and large-scale federal initiatives such as the “May Decrees” have influenced the budget autonomy of Russian cities. The paper considers a hypothesis that there was a transition to multi-level governance of Russian cities in 2006–2019, which led to significant reduction of the budget autonomy. Budgets of the 35 largest cities of Russia (except for city-regions like Moscow and Saint Petersburg) were collected and analyzed in terms of their revenue and expenditure sections to test the proposed hypothesis. The relationship between the economic level of development and budget sufficiency was investigated with cluster analysis. The main result of this research is that Russian cities have become dependent on the financial grants from regional governments since there is no national policy of stimulating the economic development of cities. The national economic crisis of 2014 accelerated the process of governance centralization. In addition, the budget autonomy of municipalities was reduced due to the fact that achieving indicators of the May Decrees had become the primary objective for the public authorities. The share of the income tax in local budgets increased significantly although the share and diversity of other income sources decreased.

Nasjonale partier og lokale lister i kommunestyrevalgene 2015 og 2019

The term local party systems suggests that party systems not only vary between municipalities, but that the systems also have a local dimension. This chapter is concerned with the balance between national parties and the local lists in municipal council elections in Norway. We also examine whether municipal amalgamation reform has changed the balance between these types of parties. Our analyses show that the correspondence between the party system in the parliament (“Stortinget”) and in the municipal councils is strong in Norwegian municipalities. One consequence of the municipal reform is that constituencies have become larger (on average), and more representatives are being elected to the municipal councils. By comparing merged and non-merged municipalities over two elections, we find that the reform has contributed to greater party diversity in the municipal councils. This applies both to the supply of lists that stand for election and the number of lists that are represented in the municipal councils. The municipal reform, on the other hand, does not seem to have contributed to greater party diversity in the form of more or fewer local lists.

Institutional municipal reform in Russia: actors and their strategies (on the example of «small» local government reform)

One of the main democratic institutions in Russia is local selfgovernment (LSG). This institution is characterized by instability of legal regulation, which is reflected in regular changes and amendments to existing laws. The most significant transformation of the Institute of LSG was in 2003–2009, when the «big» municipal reform was carried out. In 2014, a «small» reform of the LSG was launched, which made it possible to introduce a two-level system of city administration. The new model of local government organization operates only in three cities – Chelyabinsk, Makhachkala and Samara. The purpose of the article is to understand the reasons for the transition of some cities to a new system of organization of local government. The conceptual foundations of the article are the structure-oriented approach of D. North, the «distributional» theory of institutional changes of G. Libecap, and the political and economic approach of D. Acemoglu and G. Robinson's. The research is based on the theory of reforms by J. Roland. The author concluded that limited political autonomy at the bodies and local self-government officials, the lack of mayors during the period of reforms Governor-cartridge a result of the change of the head of the region, the timing of the reform with the end of the term of powers of authorities and local selfgovernment officials, as well as the inclusion of regional authorities compensatory strategies for the urban ruling elite, are factors, which contributed to the implementation of institutional reform. It is shown that the obstacles that prevented the «small» reform of the local government act of political autonomy from consolidated municipal ruling elite, interested in preserving the status quo; the existence of an urban political machine; the lack of compensation of the urban ruling elite for losses which are due to the implementation of the reform; the discrepancy between the time of the reform by the end of the term of authorities and local self-government officials.

Political leadership in the context of local self-government reform in Chelyabinsk: political and psychological analysis

Introduction. The paper contains political and psychological profiles of the local self-government deputies in the city of Chelyabinsk. The purpose of the study is to examine how municipal reform in 2014 influenced institutional opportunities for creating a new model of political leadership in terms of its effectiveness on political and psychological level. Methods. The author’s approach is based on the combination of political and psychological techniques, such as qualitative content analysis, psychobiography and in-depth interview (for assessing politicians’ images in mass consciousness). Scientific novelty. The author presumes that political leadership is a complex phenomenon based on institutional and psychological factors. Its institutional framework for the purpose of the research is determined by the municipal reform. The deputies’ psychological profiles are viewed as individual patterns of political behavior shaped as a result of adopting individual psychological characteristics to the demands of political role presumed by the reform’s conceptual foundations. Results. The data contain evidence that political and psychological profiles of the deputies under analysis in general lack features which make it possible to uncover the institutional potential of the reform. A new model of political leadership presumed by the reform’s conception was supposed to possess such attributes as: 1) widening political representation; 2) enhancing effectiveness of communication between leaders and followers; 3) depoliticizing agenda. The analysis shows that deputies elected under reform on the “inner” level are rigid and reproduce inertial model of political behavior. On the “outer” level their perception is superficial and does not have explicit potential to improve due to revealed unconscious parameters. Conclusions. Two electoral cycles within the reform did not fully reveal the leadership potential of the deputies. Therefore, the perspectives of its prolongation are viewed by the author as highly problematic.

Mobiliseringsvalget 2019: Hadde kommunereformen noen betydning?

Voter turnout in the Norwegian local election of 2019 rose from the previous election by about 5 percentage points, to 65 percent, which is higher than any other local election since 1991. Another unusual feature of the 2019 election was the implementation of a much-debated and politically contentious municipal amalgamation reform. Voters in municipalities that were to be merged on January 1st, 2020, voted in the new municipal councils in the election. Consequently, a key question in this chapter is whether or not a link exists between the rise in turnout and the municipal reform. We start, however, by looking at turnout more broadly. Who votes in local elections, and who abstains? By using sampled panel data from the Norwegian electoral roll that covers five consecutive elections, we find that habitual voters tend to be highly educated and middle-aged. The permanent abstainers constitute 9 percent of the electorate, and they often have immigrant backgrounds and no higher education. The analyses of the municipal reform reveal no overall significant effect on turnout. Small municipalities that were merged saw some rise in turnout, relative to larger merged municipalities. Indications are that the political issues that dominated the campaign had a mobilizing effect. Two large-scale government initiated get-out-the-vote efforts likely played some role in getting people to the polls.