Self-governing Institutions Research Articles

Community-led management of the (urban) commons: lessons from the Narroways Nature Reserve, Bristol

ABSTRACT At a local level, the role of urban green spaces for tackling sustainability issues has received renewed attention, in line with a wider shift in thinking which places cities at the heart of sustainable development action. In parallel, funding for green space provision has reduced, prompting Local Authorities to reimagine how green spaces are governed, including transferring authority to communities. Preference for community-led green spaces is frequently justified with reference to normative arguments derived from “commons” theory, which advocate for self-governing institutions as effective means of managing local resources. What is lacking in this literature is a contemporary focus on urban settings, operational prescription, and an awareness of the real challenges facing self-governance. To fill this gap, the different interactions with, and claims over, a self-governed nature reserve in Bristol, UK, are investigated; alongside the operational and legal mechanisms deployed in its governance and management. Findings reveal that governing commonly held green space in an urban context is highly complex and requires reconciling a multiplicity of claims, interests, and values. This manifests in tensions and challenges for governance, including trade-offs between autonomy and wider support, problematic decisions around prioritisation; and difficulty in establishing and legitimising norms whilst advocating for shared use. This deep empirical case provides valuable insights for policymakers and theorists as they continue to make decisions concerning the future of urban green spaces, in different localities and across scales.

Endangered Commons? Modeling the Effects of Demographic Trends Coupled with Admission Rules to Common Property Institutions

This study investigates the long-term effects of demographic trends and admission rules on common properties in the Province of Trento, Italy, which we refer to as historical commons. Historical commons have evolved into socio-ecological systems over the centuries, meaning that communities governed collectively natural resources and lands essential for community survival. Communities and the admission rules that determine their composition are an important constituting element of historical commons because they have developed local ecological knowledge and practices of sustainable use of natural resources. Our study hypothesizes that commons continuity is endangered because of the declining trend of the size of communities being influenced by demographic trends coupled with admission rules. Grounding our research in systems dynamics, we use empirical data including demographic projections and existing admission rules to simulate their effect on the site of the community using the Province of Trento, Italy, as our study region. To achieve that, three types of historical commons are identified: open, semi-open, and closed, each with different admission criteria based on inheritance and/or residency. Results indicate that inheritance-based admission rules can significantly reduce the number of commoners over time, potentially endangering the continuity of these self-governance institutions. The study discusses the results in light of the literature on historical commons’ continuity to evaluate different policies affecting the size of the community grounding on different mental models. The study concludes that a simulation approach can promote an anticipatory approach to the co-design of policies to ensure inclusive continuity of historical commons.

Языковое законодательство в межвоенной Польше как элемент национальной политики: историография проблемы

The paper deals with the language policy of Poland as an element of national policy. The international treaties on the protection of national minorities, the Constitution of Poland of 1921 and the laws adopted on July 31, 1924 “On the State language and working language in State institutions and self-government institutions”, “On language and organization of school work for national minorities”, “On language in courts, prosecutor’s office and notary institutions” are considered. In the Second Polish Republic, one third of the population consisted of national minorities, for whose rights the Polish Sejm adopted these laws. The laws provided for the limited use of the languages of national minorities – Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian. In certain cases, Polish civil servants were required to use the languages of national minorities in their activities. Due to their inconsistency and half-heartedness, the laws were not actually implemented and caused discontent both among representatives of national organizations and among the majority of Polish political circles. Among historians and in journalism, the laws “On Language...” also caused a discussion. Most researchers believe that the Polish language legislation did not aim to actually improve the situation of national minorities, but only to imitate their protection in order to form a positive image of a “democratic” Poland in the international arena.

Traditional Self-Governing Institution of the Co Ho Sre People in Lam Dong in Current Social Life

The Co Ho Sre people, the largest local group within the Co Ho ethnic group, had a long-standing culture, highlighted by developed wet rice farming and stable settlements in their villages. The village of the Co Ho served as a traditional social organization with essential functions in organizing, managing, and operating the community regarding economy, society, culture, and ethnic consciousness in a context of low development. The traditional self-governing institution of the Co Ho village relied on customary laws and the prestige of the village chief to govern all activities within the village. Although there have been many changes in social management, the self-governing institution of the Co Ho Sre still retained many positive elements, playing an essential role in building the Co Ho Sre community in particular and minority ethnic communities in Lam Dong in general. The article applied synthesis and analysis methods along with survey and interview methods to reconstruct the traditional self-governing institution and evaluate its role in the current life of this ethnic group.

Некоторые особенности документирования финансовой деятельности учреждений власти и самоуправления Нальчикского округа в начале ХХ века

The article focuses on studying some features of documenting the financial activities of govern-ment and self-government institutions of the Nalchik district in the early twentieth century. The paper considers the records of government and local government institutions that were entrusted with financial functions (district and district boards, Treasuries, including Nalchik, Stavropol Treasury Chamber, Congress of Trusted Rural Societies of Greater and Lesser Kabarda and Five Mountain Societies, Kabardian public Sum and its treasurer, rural boards, rural public funds). The informative impact of such clerical documents as prescriptions, resolutions, reports, relations, re-ceipts from residents of villages, bills from various institutions to the treasurer of the Kabardian public sum and the head of the Nalchik district, statements, receipts, certificates, etc. is deter-mined for the study of various areas of the economic history of the Kabardian and Balkarian popu-lation of the district. The exchange of information between the subjects of financial relations oc-curred through telegrams and notices, and their description is given. It is concluded that the rec-ords of the institutions of government and self-government of the Nalchik district in financial ac-tivity contain information about how, in what form and on what issues they interacted with each other and with other non-financial institutions, what the hierarchy of financial institutions of the Nalchik District looked like during the period under study; and also reflected information on the composition of employees of financial institutions, authorities and self-government and their em-ployees, including representatives of the Kabardian and Balkarian population.

Территориальное общественное самоуправление: новый взгляд на возможности и перспективы влияния на создание городской среды

The article considers the institution of territorial public self-government as a form of direct implementation by the population of local self-government in the administrative-territorial framework of the Rostov region as a whole and the municipalities included in it, in particular. Territorial public self-government currently has the makings for a new round of active development, both in the changing system of Russian local self-government as one of the hierarchical levels of its organization, and in the field of the urban environment, in which it acts as an important actor of change, as well as a tool in consolidating and implementing these changes.

Structural and Functional Consolidation Processes of Local Government Units in Norway and Croatia. A Comparative Study

The aim of the article is to synthesise the process of the introduction of the reform of the basic territorial division of the state in Norway between 2016 and 2020, creating a new structure of municipal and regional self-government with a simultaneous change in some of the tasks carried out at both levels of municipal and provincial (regional) self-government. We comparatively analyse the process of development of territorial selfgovernment in Croatia, with a particular focus on changes in the attitude of academia and politics towards the consolidation of local self-government units. The analysis is based on the assumptions and categories of neo-institutional methodology. The main thesis of the paper emphasises the importance of the process of structural and functional consolidation of local government units carried out in order to optimise the delivery of public services, enhance the well-being of local communities and exploit economies of scale. The essence and evolution of local self-government institutions in Norway and Croatia and their political and theoretical conditions will also be the subject of synthesis in the paper.

Deciphering dictators’ discourse on Indigenous democracy: a case of Karimov’s Uzbekistan

ABSTRACT Why do dictators ‘indigenize’ democracy? This article analyses discourses on democracy in a consolidated authoritarian regime to show how it assists in authoritarian regime-building. The article shows that in the case of Uzbekistan, Karimov’s rhetoric selected and essentialised features of an Uzbek nation, such as community, solidarity and fairness. The regime imposed such features on the Indigenous self-governing institutions, known as mahalla, to foster authoritarian control by turning community to guarantee ideological coherence, by imposing state hierarchy in the name of solidarity and by establishing local networks of patron-client relations in the name of fairness. Through quantitative content and critical discourse analyses of Karimov’s speeches from 1995 to 2015 published by the official press in Russian, the authors operationalise Karimov’s rhetoric on Indigenous democracy and through the analysis of legal acts that governed mahalla, they illustrate how such interpretations strengthened the authoritarian regime.

Decentralized planning for non-communicable diseases: protocol for an explanatory study of local self-government projects in Kerala, India

Background: Priority setting and resource allocation in decentralised planning is often not in line with the social and economic burden associated with non-communicable diseases (NCD). This is a protocol developed for the purpose of analysing the pattern of budgetary allocation and utilisation of funds for health sector projects on non-communicable diseases by the local self-government (LSG) institutions in Kerala. It is also proposed to document the processes along with the stakeholders’ role in planning. Methods: Following explanatory design, first we will do secondary data analysis of health sector projects on NCD fund allocation and utilisation, followed by document analysis and key informant interviews in LSGs at selected districts of Kerala. Following policy framework used in public health related policy processes, will perform descriptive analysis, based on stages heuristic in decentralised planning. Multiple dimensions of priority setting and allocation process will be studied. Explanatory analysis for resource allocation process will be studied using Kingdon’s multiple streams framework. Conclusions: The study will help in understanding the decision-making process for fund allocation with the specific focus on NCD. It will also help in building an evidenced based framework for decentralized health planning. Trial Registration: No: SCT/IEC/1849/FEBRUARY/2022.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND GREEN GOVERNANCE THROUGH PARTCIPATORY DEMOCRACY

Mahatma Gandhis vision of Gram Swaraj underscores the significance of self-sufficient and autonomous village communities, with anemphasis on the provision of clean drinking water, sanitation, and healthcare as essential elements of sustainable development and progress. The Panchayat Raj Act of 1994 was enacted by states to strengthen participatory democracy in India by conferring constitutional legitimacy to gram panchayats and establishing a three-tier structure of local self-governance at the village, block, and district levels. The implementation of the Panchayat Raj Act has, however, faced numerous challenges. There exists a disconnect between the planners and the implementers, the visionaries and the executors, and the administrators and the community at large, which has undermined the efficacy of this system designed to ensure grassroots democracy. This article is an attempt to redress the issues of sustainable development from grassroot level, the hope is that this will be an eye opener for the government to effectively fund and realise that green governance is the key factor for sustainable development and it can be best achieved through the local self-government institutions.

Erosion of University Autonomy: Judicial Supervision of University Conduct

The university was once envisaged as an autonomous, self-governing institution where academic endeavours could flourish sans outside interference. It is a vision with diminishing correspondence to reality. This article explores the degree of autonomy afforded to universities when the university visitor was given a prominent role to play in adjudicating disputes in contrast to contemporary times when universities find themselves increasingly — and inconsistently — under the supervision of the judiciary. By examining university focused jurisprudence involving judicial review, civil litigation, and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenges, the article highlights instances where universities have fallen under the scrutiny of judicial oversight, and circumstances where the courts have chosen not to intervene. The article concludes that today’s universities are subject to both public and private law as administrative decision-makers and quasi-public institutions.

Rural local government and healthcare delivery in an Eastern Indian state

Based on field research in the remote and tribal-dominated Kandhamal district in the eastern Indian state of Odisha during 2019-20, the study examines the extent to which Constitutionally-created rural self-governance institutions (village Panchayats) fulfilled their mandated healthcare functions. Primary data was collected from villagers, front-line public health officials, elected local government (Panchayat) members and party cadres through focus group discussions and interviews. Employing the Foucauldian governmentality framework, the analysis moves away from a depoliticized understanding of decentralized delivery of rural health. The study concludes that Panchayats’ contributions to rural health are influenced by politically motivated factors, which may not be compatible with considerations of democracy and efficiency. Panchayat performance in the study villages remained poor as the state allowed them only regulated freedom and did not create space for their autonomy to flourish. Rural health decentralization led to new forms of governmentality as Panchayats were instrumentally used to consolidate state power at the rural grassroots. Top-down management of political process in these areas makes local government mechanical outpost of the ruling party.

Территориальное общественное самоуправление: история и современность, перспективы совершенствования законодательства

The article examines, taking into account the amendments and additions made to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 2020, the key characteristics of territorial public self-government, history of the development of legislation regulating social relations related to it, starting with the provisions of the USSR Law “On the general principles of local self-government and local economy in the USSR” of 1990, the Law of the RSFSR “On Local Self-Government in the RSFSR” of 1991, the federal laws “On the General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation” of 1995 and 2003. The legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation related to territorial public self-government are also analyzed. Various points of view of legal scholars on the relationship between local self-government and territorial public self-government are studied. The subject of this study is also the right to exercise territorial public self-government and the article concludes this legal possibility is inherently a fundamental right within which the constitutional right to exercise local self-government is exercised. In addition, the author came to the conclusion the institutions of territorial public self-government should be given the status of public legal entity.

Городское самоуправление Якутска при правительстве адмирала А.В. Колчака в 1919 г.: выборы, организация и упразднение

Статья посвящена анализу городского самоуправления Якутска в 1919 г., особое внимание уделено его состоянию в период Гражданской войны и последующей ликвидации городского управления после большевистского переворота. Исследование освещает выборы и структуру городского управления при А.В. Колчаке с учетом принципов историзма и объективности. В результате анализа стало ясно, что в декабре 1918 г. правительство ограничило избирательные права горожан. Последние выборы в городскую думу прошли в 1919 г., был сформирован новый состав органов городского самоуправления. The article explores the historical context of city self-government in Yakutsk during the revolution, addressing the lack of historical research on this topic during the Civil War in Russia. The study aimed to analyze the structure of self-government institutions, personnel composition, and the electoral process, considering the factors influencing these processes during the social upheaval of the Civil War. It also examines the liquidation of city self-government following the Bolshevik coup in December 1919, including the subsequent arrest of its members. The scientific innovation lies in providing the first comprehensive representation of the election process and the personal composition of the Yakutsk city government (City Duma and City Council) during Admiral A.V. Kolchak’s reign, using a methodology based on historicism, objectivity, consistency, and comprehensiveness. The retrospective method revealed cause-and-effect relationships and recurring patterns in the historical evolution. In December 1918, Admiral A.V. Kolchak annulled the decree issued by the Provisional Government in April 1917 and amended city government elections, limiting citizens’ electoral rights through changes to the electoral qualifications. The last elections were held in the fall of 1919, resulting in a city self-government consisting of 25 members with an average age of 47.96 years, predominantly holding official or employee positions and having secondary education. The composition and number of members of the city self-government changed multiple times, and the city authorities continued to rely on the city regulations of 1892 when forming the executive committees. On the night of December 14–15, 1919, the local Yakutsk garrison executed an armed revolt and apprehended Admiral A.V. Kolchak’s followers. From December 15, 1919 to January 1, 1920 Soviet power entities were established, marking the dissolution of the city government and the subsequent arrest of its members.

Трансформация системы целей и ценностей местного самоуправления в контексте формирования публичной власти в Российской Федерации

The article is devoted to the study of the transformation of the goals and values of local governments in the context of the formation of public authority in Russian Federation. Within the framework of the study, the issues of the conceptual contradiction between the goals of the activities of local governments and public authorities are addressed. The prospects for the development of the goals of local governments and the emergence of new values in the context of the functioning of the system of public authorities are analyzed. Proposals are made to eliminate conceptual contradictions in the development of the goals and values of local governments and public authorities. The issue of developing the values of local self-government through the institution of territorial public self-government, which acts as a condition for the formation of a civil society with inherent characteristics, is considered.

Surveillance capitalism and the surveillance state: a comparative institutional analysis

AbstractWhat is the connection between mass surveillance and institutions of individual agency, freedom, and self-governance? Recent literature on “surveillance capitalism” argues that, over the past two decades, the capitalist Big Tech companies have commodified personal data for profit. This commodification goes beyond gathering information to improve the products provided by the collecting organization directly and entails using data to predict what people will do, the sale of that data, and its use to modify the behaviors of unknowing consumers. According to critics, this erodes individual dignity and freedom while also threatening democracy. This paper offers an alternative framing of surveillance and data collection based on comparative institutional analysis. While data collection and attempts at persuasion are present in private and government settings, the welfare effects vary due to institutional differences. We leverage the comparative institutional framework to analyze the differences between private data collection (“surveillance capitalism”) and government data collection (the “surveillance state”). Our analysis sheds light on how data collection in the private, for-profit sector has different welfare consequences from those in the surveillance state.

The role of Ukrainian zemstvos in the formation of their public library space

This research into the participation of local self-government bodies in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries in the formation of Ukraine’s public library space is crucial given the need to study the factors that influenced the creation of Ukrainian book culture, national consciousness, and state-building. This study aims to characterise the role of Ukrainian zemstvo self-government bodies in the establishment of the Ukrainian public library space during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The research methodology is based on the principles of scientific rigour, historicism, sociocultural and modernisation approaches, as well as general scientific (induction, logic, analysis, synthesis) and specifically historical methods: narrative, historical-genetic, and structural-functional analysis. The cultural and educational development of the Ukrainian village by zemstvos, a component of which was their public library work, from the 1860s until the fall of the Russian Empire, was a major direction of activity of these self-governing institutions, upon whose success the national progress of Ukrainians depended. In this sphere, the foundation was laid for the future public space of the Dnieper Ukraine. The establishment, at the expense of zemstvos and through their organisational efforts, of public libraries with broad, free access for all village residents, alongside the development of rural schools, was the alpha and omega of peasant Ukrainian life at that time. It shaped the region’s book culture and elevated the social activity of the largest social class. Thanks to the democratic zemstvo intelligentsia, during the revolution of 1905-1907, demands were made to increase the network of rural libraries, cooperation between zemstvos and Prosvitas expanded, and the Ukrainian printed word became more entrenched. The emergence of peasant republics in 1905, one of which was in Sumy, where peasants published a newspaper declaring the tsarist authority abolished, against the backdrop of zemstvo achievements in expanding the network of public libraries and education, demonstrated that the early 20th century marked an intensification of public library development in Ukrainian villages. This period also saw the maturation of the national consciousness among peasants and laid the groundwork for the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921, a pivotal stage in Ukraine’s state-building efforts. The study of this topic will contribute to understanding the role of local self-government bodies in the functioning of Ukraine’s public library space under modern conditions, national identification among Ukrainians, and their consolidation in the face of hostile invasions

Правовой статус органов местного самоуправления в Аргентине

The article examines the status of local self-government bodies in Argentina. Due to the lack of unified federal regulation of the institution of local self-government, the author analyzes the legislation of the constituent entities of the federation. The procedure for the formation of local self-government bodies, the nature of the relationship between various local selfgovernment bodies, the procedure for resolving conflicts, and the peculiarities of the status of local self-government bodies in some subjects of the federation are also studied.

DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS IN THE CONTEXT OF ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION

The subject of the study is the conceptual, theoretical, empirical and methodological foundations of the socio-economic and legal nature of the development of administrative justice in the context of economic globalisation. Methodology. The study uses general and special methods of cognition. Using the dialectical method, the authors differentiates the essence of the development of administrative justice in the context of economic globalisation on the legal and economic levels according to the relevant criteria. The analysis created the conditions for a multifaceted study of the complex of problems and prospects for the development of Ukrainian administrative justice in the context of economic globalisation from the perspective of economic and legal etymology. The synthesis created the conditions for generalising the characteristic features of administrative justice, taking into account the current trends and international legal and regulatory developments in this area. The formal legal method allowed to correctly interpret the content of international and national legal acts that define the directions for improving administrative justice in the context of economic globalisation. The purpose of the article is to identify the problems and directions of development of administrative justice in the context of economic globalization. The results of the study show that the problems of the current state of administrative justice in Ukraine are complex, and the ways to overcome them take into account various parameters that are directly or indirectly based on the principles of economic globalisation, which are primarily based on economic and legal principles. Among the areas for improvement of administrative procedures, those that primarily ensure effective protection of human rights and freedoms, in particular through the implementation of relevant international standards, occupy an important place. Conclusion. The study of the economic foundations for optimisation of administrative justice in Ukraine has made it possible to identify certain indicators which serve as socio-economic prerequisites for optimisation of administrative justice. The statistical data show that the areas of manifestation of the subject matter of administrative court proceedings are differentiated depending on the impact of economic globalisation on certain public law relations which give rise to the relevant public law disputes. The authors distinguishes between a group of public law disputes which are directly related to the phenomenon of economic globalisation, and public law disputes in which public interests of economic content are manifested. This contributes to the creation of certain, primarily legal, structures which would facilitate the optimisation of administrative proceedings in the context of economic globalisation, which has both an external, international and internal, national format. The above considerations of optimising administrative justice in the context of economic globalisation have made it possible to identify specific problems faced by Ukrainian justice, including administrative justice: 1) organisational; 2) legal support; 3) material, financial and social support of courts and judges; 4) functioning of the institution of judicial governance and self-government; 5) staffing; 6) ensuring access to justice. Among the areas of improvement of administrative justice, the following are considered in detail: implementation of the principles of the rule of law and procedural economy, introduction of digital technologies (elements of artificial intelligence), introduction of alternative forms of pre-trial and post-trial dispute resolution, optimisation of the zonal and territorial location of courts, implementation of international standards of administrative justice, and some others.

Забезпечення функціонування суспільства у діяльності органів державної влади за умов дії правового режиму воєнного стану

The scientific article is devoted to the study of the activities of public authorities during the period of martial law in ensuring the functioning of society, characterization of the concept and attributes of state bodies, types of state bodies. The article examines scientific and regulatory approaches to defining the most important functions of the state, in particular, ensuring the security of citizens. On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation, in violation of international law, carried out a full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine. On the same day, the legal regime of martial law was introduced (there was a fact of aggression, daily new threats of attack, a threat to Ukraine's state independence, and violation of the integrity of state borders), and accordingly, state bodies, military formations, and local governments were given the necessary powers to prevent the threat and ensure national security, as well as temporary restrictions due to the threat to the constitutional rights and freedoms of people and citizens, as well as the rights and legitimate interests of legal entities), which has been prolonged for a month. This has changed the worldview of all Ukrainians, the activities of state and self-governing institutions. Martial law is a legal regime that has its own peculiarities and regulates the activities of state and local governments in Ukraine. During the period of martial law, the activities of state bodies are aimed at ensuring the operation of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, implementing measures of the legal regime, defending civil defense and ensuring the protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens of the state. Martial law provides state authorities, military administrations, and military command and control bodies with the necessary powers to prevent threats and repel armed aggression and ensure national security. Based on this, the state authorities felt the impact of the martial law regime, as they faced new challenges, but the state authorities quickly regulated their activities. The state is characterized by the presence of a social system with certain elements, manifestations, content and functional purpose, i.e. organizational overflows of society. The management of major national events places extremely high demands on the organization and interaction of state institutions and local self-government, which is guaranteed during the functioning of the state mechanism and contributes to the development of a democratic society.