Constitutional foundations of local self-government in Ukraine

Abstract

The constitutional foundations of local self­government in Ukraine are norms-principles reflected in more than 20 articles of the Constitution of Ukraine. Norms establishing the legal, organizational, material and financial foundations of local self-government provide for the establishment of a democratic decentralized management system, based on independent territorial communities, local self-government bodies, which are entrusted with the decision of all issues of local importance. Real effective local self-government is possible only in the presence of certain conditions that have objectively developed in society, and which collectively form the basis of local self-government. The basics of local self­government create the foundation, that is, the foundation on which the entire system of local self-government is built. One of the fundamental foundations of local self-government is the participation of citizens in the social and political life of the state. The topicality of the topic is due primarily to the fact that at the current stage of democratic transformation of our country, local self­government is the basis of civil society. Local self-government is one of the most important institutions of a democratic state. Its development is a central scientific problem of municipal law and a "cornerstone” in municipal science for many decades, since its inception. The 1996 Constitution of Ukraine created the legal basis for the development of local self-government as a special type of public power. The article analyzes the constitutional principles that established the status of municipal power, their influence on further legislation and practice of local self­government. The constitutional principles of local self-government are analyzed. The approaches available in modern jurisprudence regarding the definition of the concept of "basics of local self­government” have been considered. Arguments are presented in favor of separating the organizational- legal, territorial, and material-financial bases of the activity of local self-government bodies.