Nepal’s adoption of federalism following the 2015 Constitution introduced a transformative shift in its governance framework, particularly affecting disaster response structures in a country highly vulnerable to seismic events. This research investigates how federal restructuring has shaped the effectiveness, coordination, and resilience of earthquake management efforts. Centered on the post-2015 landscape, the study uses a qualitative methodology relying exclusively on secondary data, including government policy frameworks, development agency reports, academic literature, and media analysis. Special attention is given to evaluating the delineation of roles across federal, provincial, and local governments, as well as to assessing institutional capacity-building and intergovernmental collaboration in the aftermath of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. The findings highlight notable strengths such as increased local autonomy and improved community engagement, while also revealing persistent bottlenecks in resource allocation, coordination protocols, and policy implementation. Despite formal decentralization, lingering centralization in funding and decision-making hampers timely and inclusive disaster response. This study concludes with targeted policy recommendations to enhance federal resilience, promote effective cross-tier coordination, and strengthen local governments' operational capacities in earthquake-prone areas. By bridging gaps in disaster governance, Nepal’s federal model can serve as a blueprint for resilient, community-driven emergency systems in similarly vulnerable contexts.

This study aims to explain how maqāṣid al-Qur’ān can be used as an epistemological framework to assess the implementation of the Aceh Criminal Code in the context of the Indonesian public sphere. This issue is important because the qanun is often debated between the legitimacy of local autonomy, the moral demands of the Acehnese people, and modern human rights criticism. This study uses a qualitative-epistemological approach by combining content analysis of Qanun No. 6 of 2014, a literature review of research conducted over the past five years, thematic analysis, and a socio-legal approach to map the relationship between Sharia norms, legal practices, and social dynamics. The results show that qanun has strong historical and political legitimacy and is viewed by the community as an instrument for maintaining moral order and social cohesion after the conflict. From the maqāṣid perspective, qanun can be categorized as an effort to protect religion, life, and public honor, especially when implemented through educational and preventive mechanisms. However, the study also found that alignment with maqāṣid is highly dependent on procedural quality, operational standards, victim protection, and moderation of implementation. This study concludes that reforming implementation is the most maqāṣidi step to ensure substantive justice and protection of human dignity in Aceh.

Innovation districts are hailed as the modern innovation landscapes led by privatized, local coalitions from the bottom-up. This discourse, however, conceals the influences of the multilevel governments and the territorial-power (re)configurations that are persistent and complex. In this article, we developed an Innovation Jurisdiction framework to unpack the different types of governance structures, power compositions, and their use of diverse policy mixes to shape the trajectories of innovation districts. Using the National Employment and Innovation Clusters in metropolitan Melbourne as case studies, we identified the dominance of the general-purpose (Type I) innovation jurisdictions despite the widely claimed local autonomy and power. Melbourne's cases are telling of the governance ambiguity of modern innovation landscapes and how task-specific jurisdictions (Type II) adaptive to place-based innovations are often fragmented and superimposed. Our study on the spatial-functional mismatch of the multi-level governance of innovation districts calls for more nuanced explorations at the intersections between innovation policy, public policy, and urban studies.

Decentralization has emerged as a central governance reform in health systems worldwide, motivated by the expectation that transferring authority and resources to subnational entities would enhance efficiency, responsiveness, and equity. Yet, three decades of empirical research reveal inconsistent evidence. This systematic review synthesizes global studies examining how political, administrative, and fiscal decentralization influence health system performance across five domains: access, efficiency, quality, equity, and population health outcomes. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, eight studies met the inclusion criteria from an initial pool of twenty-four records identified through major databases and organizational sources. The findings indicate that decentralization often improves access to maternal and child health services and immunization coverage when local autonomy is coupled with predictable fiscal transfers and adequate institutional capacity. However, evidence on efficiency and quality remains mixed, reflecting trade-offs between flexibility and coordination. Most critically, decentralization has not consistently reduced health inequities; in some cases, it has widened regional or socioeconomic disparities, particularly where redistributive mechanisms are weak. Contextual factors—such as fiscal capacity, governance quality, and political stability—emerge as decisive determinants shaping outcomes. Overall, decentralization should not be seen as a uniform solution but as a conditional governance reform whose success depends on institutional design, intergovernmental accountability, and equitable resource allocation.

Devolution of power and fiscal autonomy to local governments is theorized to enhance the efficiency and responsiveness of natural resource management (NRM). In Nigeria, despite constitutional provisions, local government areas (LGAs) often operate with limited autonomy, constrained by state and federal oversight. This study investigates the effects of local government autonomy on NRM within the contrasting contexts of Oluyole (a resource-rich, peri-urban LGA) and Oriire (a resource-dependent, rural LGA) in Oyo State. Mixed-methods approach was employed. A systematic checklist was used to inventory flora and fauna across both LGAs, and a survey was administered to 400 households (200 per LGA) to assess perceptions of resource health and management effectiveness. 15 key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted with LGA officials, community leaders, and state-level policymakers to explore institutional capacities, fiscal constraints, and inter-governmental dynamics. Findings revealed a higher diversity of species in Oriire (Flora: 78 species, Fauna: 45 species) compared to Oluyole (Flora: 62 species, Fauna: 38 species) but showed a faster rate of resource depletion in Oluyole (p < 0.05). Survey results indicated significant dissatisfaction with NRM in both LGAs (Oluyole: 78%, Oriire: 72%). KIIs identified limited fiscal autonomy, political interference, and inadequate technical capacity as critical impediments. Oriire’s relative success in community-led forest management highlighted the potential of devolved authority. Study concludes that meaningful local government autonomy, characterized by fiscal independence, enhanced technical capacity, and clear legislative frameworks, is a prerequisite for sustainable NRM. Current constraints severely limit LGAs' effectiveness. Recommendations include constitutional reforms to guarantee LGA fiscal autonomy, capacity-building programs, and the promotion of collaborative governance models that integrate local indigenous knowledge with formal management systems.

ABSTRACT Background In 2015, Tanzania joined the Global Financing Facility (GFF), a global health initiative for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH-N). Despite its resource mobilization goals, little is known about power dynamics in GFF policy processes. This paper presents the first power analysis of Tanzania’s GFF engagement. Objective To examine policy processes in developing GFF documents during its first two phases in Tanzania. Methods An exploratory qualitative case study using document reviews (*n* = 22) and key informant interviews (*n* = 21) conducted in 2022–2023. Data were thematically analyzed and interpreted using Gaventa’s power cube (levels, spaces, and forms of power). Results Stakeholders praised the GFF’s country-led, evidence-based approach and local autonomy. However, closed-door decision-making in phase one excluded civil society and the private sector. Invisible power imbalances in funding allocations left stillbirths and adolescent health without dedicated budgets, while vulnerable groups (e.g. people with disabilities) were overlooked. Disbursement-linked indicators emphasized measurable outcomes, reflecting visible power. Phase two showed adaptive learning, with improved inclusivity. Conclusion While government-led, global actors (e.g. World Bank, donors) heavily influenced decisions. Greater civil society engagement is needed for accountability. Future efforts must address power imbalances through meaningful citizen participation to strengthen RMNCAH-N services.

Biosphere Reserves are founded on an innovative concept: fostering networks of protected areas where conservation coexists with activities that meet local community needs. Increasingly, equity and justice are recognised as vital to conservation, with studies showing that positive perceptions of fairness improve outcomes. Respecting local autonomy and cultural practices enhances biodiversity without compromising social well-being. Nonetheless, achieving Biosphere Reserves’ objectives and effective management remains challenging. This paper explores the potential of environmental justice and socio-technical analysis to inform sustainable tourism research within these reserves. Using Mar Chiquito Atlantic Park (MCAP) in Argentina as a case study, we applied a qualitative approach, incorporating participant observation within the management committee (2017–2022) and assessing the perspectives of key social actors involved in the reserve. Findings reveal that governance limitations and sustainable tourism potential are closely tied to shortcomings in environmental justice. Socio-technical analysis highlights that core challenges and governance issues arise from conflicting interests and diverging views on conservation and development, hindering shared goal-setting. We argue that integrating environmental justice with socio-technical analysis enhances stakeholder engagement by addressing diverse and evolving priorities—an essential step towards adaptive governance and sustainable tourism development.

Agroecology is increasingly shaped by the convergence of traditional knowledge, farmers’ lived experiences, and scientific research, fostering a plural dialog that embraces the ecological and socio-political complexity of agricultural systems. Within this framework, soil biodiversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem functions, with soil microbiology, and particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), playing a pivotal role in enhancing soil fertility, plant health, and agroecosystem resilience. This review explores the synergy between agroecological practices and AMF by examining their ecological, economic, epistemic, and territorial contributions to sustainable agriculture. Drawing on recent scientific findings and Latin American case studies, it highlights how practices such as reduced tillage, crop diversification, and organic matter inputs foster diverse and functional AMF communities and differentially affect their composition and ecological roles. Beyond their biological efficacy, AMF are framed as relational and socio-ecological agents—integral to networks that connect soil regeneration, food quality, local autonomy, and multi-species care. By bridging ecological science with political ecology and justice in science-based knowledge, this review offers a transdisciplinary lens on AMF and proposes pathways for agroecological transitions rooted in biodiversity, cognitive justice, and territorial sustainability.

This paper proposes a hybrid model of post-scarcity development for emerging economies that abandons traditional growth-output measures and instead focuses on regenerative socio-ecological capabilities, human flourishing, decentralised technological organisation, and long-term institutional resilience. Existing development models prioritise economic output measures that reduce complex well-being to quantifiable productivity indicators, thereby obscuring structural inequalities, ecological degradation, and human vulnerabilities (Costanza et al., 2014). This paper embeds post-scarcity thinking into African realities through a multi-systemic approach renewable energy networks, digital commons, platform cooperatives, knowledge economies, local autonomy, and innovation diffusion. The argument is supported by empirical research across development studies, ecological economics, political theory, and anthropology. It concludes that post-scarcity development must be neither anti-modern nor anti-market, but rather hybrid, pluriversal and systemic.

This paper presents an integrated approach to real-time processing and analysis of large-scale data streams using artificial intelligence methods, multi-agent systems, and multi-layered control architectures. Particular attention is devoted to combining technologies that are traditionally applied separately: unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control systems, situational centers, streaming video services, and distributed sensor networks. The proposed model accounts for the stochastic nature of the environment, the dynamic behaviour of data flows, and resource constraints, which are critical factors for real-time systems. The study develops a multi-level multi-agent architecture that includes central, regional, and edge nodes, as well as local agents such as drones, sensors, and client-side video devices. A mathematical formalization of agent interaction and reward functions is proposed to ensure a balance between service quality, latency, packet loss, and energy consumption. The use of multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithms is introduced to support adaptive decision-making in real time, along with the development of a digital twin of the environment for predicting future system states using deep and generative models. The results demonstrate that the integration of edge computing, hierarchical decision-making, and local agent autonomy significantly enhances system resilience, provides stable performance under external disturbances, and enables effective infrastructure scaling. The findings form a scientific foundation for designing adaptive, robust, and self-learning next-generation digital ecosystems capable of intelligent processing of large data streams in real time

With the advent of local autonomy, public museums have become core infrastructure for shaping regional identity and ensuring residents’ right to participate in cultural life. Chungcheongbuk-do has achieved quantitative growth through the enactment of local ordinances and the establishment of new museums; however, their current operational conditions indicate an urgent need for qualitative improvement, driven by shortages of professional personnel and insufficient content. Accordingly, this study assesses the operational status of public museums in the Chungbuk region using findings from Korea’s Public Museum Evaluation and Certification System and proposes concrete revitalization strategies to support sustainable development. The analysis shows that a substantial number of museums in the Chungbuk region fail to meet national evaluation standards, largely due to noncompliance with registration requirements and the absence of professional curators. To address these challenges and position public museums as representative regional cultural hubs, this study proposes five measures. First, museums should strengthen their public mission by shifting from being primarily exhibition venues to functioning as community hubs. Second, curators—who are legally required—should be recruited without delay, and their professional capacities systematically enhanced. Third, museums should develop specialized content and educational programs that integrate local cultural resources with digital technologies. Fourth, museums should improve user-centered environments by responding to demographic changes, including population aging and increasing multiculturalism. Fifth, museums should address content shortages and enhance service quality through cooperative networks with related institutions, including national museums. These measures are expected to enhance the competitiveness of public museums in the Chungbuk region and help transform them into open cultural spaces that actively engage and communicate with local residents.

Purpose: This paper examines the prominent themes of research, intellectual connections, gaps in scholarship on the subject of local government financial autonomy in the world literature through bibliometric tools. Method: Bibliometric analysis of 626 publications in the Scopus index (2000-2025) with the VOSviewer software was performed to chart the occurrence of two or more keywords, thematic networks, citation network, and co-authorship network. The discussion follows the historical developments of the use of fiscal decentralization and local financial autonomy in terms of time, geography, and scientific fields. Findings: Nine thematic clusters were chosen that are reflections of intellectual organization of the subject-area, encompassing such areas as fiscal decentralization, urbanization, intergovernmental transfers, environmental regulation and digital governance. The research output has increased considerably since 2005 where the focus has shifted in terms of fiscal efficiency discussions to sustainability and technology-based governance issues. The best collaboration networks are between China and Europe and low involvement of Africa and Latin Americans. The temporal analysis shows that the financial crisis globally and the COVID-19 outbreak has fueled the study of fiscal resilience and adaptive financial management research. Implications: This study shows the need for developing countries to deploy digital tools and enhance their intergovernmental transfer design, as well as capacity-building strategies that are often used by developed nations to improve their fiscal transparency, revenue performance, and resilience. This will go a long way to strengthen local financial systems. Novelty/Value: The study's nine research clusters and gaps—including the underrepresentation of African and Latin American studies and the development of digital and environmental fiscal themes—provide a clearer intellectual framework for the field than previous reviews.

Municipalities worldwide play a crucial role in delivering essential public services to citizens. However, securing adequate resources and sustainable funding remains a persistent challenge for local self-governments. Depending on the state system, local circumstances, societal needs, and policy priorities, municipal revenue structures vary significantly. Yet modern urban municipalities are generally guided by common principles such as equality, solidarity, efficiency, transparency, accountability, and the promotion of public well-being. The adoption of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in the 1980s established an internationally recognized legal framework for local governance and local financing. As a member state of the Council of Europe, North Macedonia adheres to the Charter’s core principles, which emphasize greater local fiscal autonomy and the responsibility of municipalities to manage both their revenues and expenditures independently of the central government. Despite the existing framework, Macedonian municipalities still rely heavily on central government transfers, with own-source revenues – such as property taxes, communal fees, and parking fees – making up a smaller share. Parking fees generally provide modest revenue, mainly funding public-space maintenance, traffic management, and minor infrastructure, and rarely support social welfare. Recently, some cities have introduced structured or solidarity-based parking fees for humanitarian or health purposes. This paper examines the core principles of local financing through an analysis of parking fees, focusing on the emerging practice of “humanitarian parking” as a case study. It employs a qualitative comparative case-study methodology that examines legal frameworks, policies, and practices of public ad solidarity-based parking fees in cities in Macedonia and Serbia, as neighboring countries that share a similar socio-demographic, economic, and legal context. Particular attention is given to the emerging model of “humanitarian parking” as a municipal policy instrument. The analysis assesses the impact of this model on local fiscal autonomy and examines empirical evidence on citizen attitudes, including levels of public support and the transparency of parking-revenue allocation.

This article investigates the fiscal underpinnings of multilevel climate governance (MLCG) by examining how competitive project grants shape local decarbonisation efforts in the United Kingdom. While MLCG literature has focused on institutional structures and regulatory authority, we argue that intergovernmental fiscal relations constitute a critical but underexplored dimension of climate governance. In particular, the literature has neglected that much of local climate action in Western countries gets financed through conditional, short-term, and competitive project-based grants. Drawing on a mixed-methods study, including 45 interviews and a survey of local authority officers, we show how the UK’s centralized and fragmented funding regime imposes ‘rules of the game’ that prioritize upward accountability, short-term deliverables, and visibility over locally grounded, long-term strategies. These dynamics fragment local bureaucracies, constrain strategic planning, and exacerbate regional inequalities in climate governance capacity. Our findings challenge assumptions about local autonomy and leadership in climate action, revealing how fiscal instruments function as tools of centralised control. We call for greater attention to the political economy of public finance in multilevel climate governance.

Enhancing water quality is essential for sustainable development and the well-being of all humanity. In response, nations worldwide are prioritizing the strategic design and effective implementation of water environmental policies. This study investigates the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (WPCAP) in China, establishing a causal link between the policy and improvements in water quality, while thoroughly examining the influencing factors and specific mechanisms of the policy. Our findings are as follows: 1) WPCAP has significantly reduced the chemical oxygen demand (COD) in water bodies, with an estimated average decline of 16.47%. 2) In regions with lower levels of industrialization, less foreign investment, and greater local au-tonomy, the policy's effect on improving water quality is enhanced. 3) The presence of an "official promotion tournament" does not detract from the policy's efficacy. 4) WPCAP effectively improves water quality through source governance, accountability governance, and multi-agent governance. The insights from this research are crucial for shaping sustainable practices worldwide and offer valuable policy recommendations for other nations seeking to improve water quality and enhance environmental governance.

This study investigates how centralized governance structures undermine the achievement of sustainable development by systematically eliminating local grassroot territorial development vectors and initiatives. It examines how centralization reduces the representation of diverse sustainability strategies as systems transition from local to regional/national level. Using Belarus as a case study, this research discovers the effects of this transition. The study thoroughly explored 47 sustainable development planning documents from Belarus, spanning from 2005 to 2020, and encompassing diverse levels of governance, including Local Agenda 21 plans, municipal strategies, and regional planning documents. The SWOT indicators extracted during the analysis were systematically categorized within the advanced sustainability framework into the following four categories: social, environmental, economic, and institutional/participatory. A quantitative analysis of local development vectors loss was conducted using a novel evaluation tool designed to measure indicator diversity across various planning scales. The findings show that approximately 85% of the diversity of local sustainability vectors is lost due to aggregation/in hierarchical planning processes. This phenomenon can be explained by reference to three mechanisms: administrative inertia (institutional resistance to novel approaches), funding constraints (central budgets default to standardized territorial development vectors), and structural barriers (limited local autonomy despite formal decentralization policies). Social and environmental development vectors demonstrate greater losses than economic ones, indicating that context-specific local solutions are systematically ignored at higher scales. The results indicate that the formal decentralization approach is ineffective in preserving local sustainability without complementary institutional reforms. The study enhances existing knowledge of sustainability science by demonstrating how central governance restricts the implementation of localized solutions to environmental and social challenges. This demonstrates that formal decentralization policies, without institutional reforms, do not lead to sustainable development. The methodology developed here can also be applied to other highly centralized systems.

In 2023-2024, the Ontario government proposed dissolving Peel Region, a two-tier governance structure serving one of Canada’s most diverse and rapidly urbanizing suburban areas. While framed as technocratic restructuring, the initiative was underpinned by political calculation and populist appeals to local autonomy, revealing deeper tensions in how territory, governance and social service delivery are imagined and politicized. Approaching territory as a relational and contested construct—an active force in decision-making and a site of social relations imbued with meaning—the article critically examines the political stage surrounding the proposed dissolution and foregrounds how a network of non-profit social service providers, the Metamorphosis Network of Peel, became a key territorial actor resisting top-down reforms. Although the dissolution plan was ultimately abandoned, it exposed the fragility of state-led governance and opened space for alternative imaginaries and re-territorialization grounded in networks of care infrastructure and embedded forms of expertise. Tracing how Metamorphosis mobilized place-based advocacy and service-oriented networks, we argue that this coordinated response, while not municipalist in a classical or insurgent sense, reflects an incipient form of regionalist praxis that we call here “social service regionalism.” The Peel case contributes to international debates on re-territorialization by advancing a processual, post-sovereigntist account of spatial politics. It illustrates how regional governance is recalibrated in practice not through bureaucratic engineering but through polycentric spatial politics and embedded networks more attuned to local realities.

Intergovernmental transfers play a crucial role in shaping the fiscal position of local governments, especially in countries where municipalities, such as those in Poland, exhibit a high dependence on central funding. Recent reforms and the increasing reliance on discretionary revenues transferred from the central budget have motivated a closer examination of how these instruments influence local fiscal sustainability. This article analyses how different types of transfers—general subsidies and targeted grants—affect the fiscal sustainability of Polish municipalities across several dimensions, including autonomy, solvency, efficiency and economic resilience. Using panel data, five sets of models test the crowding-out effect, developmental impact, pro-cyclicality, fiscal discipline, and fiscal replacement mechanisms. Results show that general subsidies crowd out local tax revenues, particularly in less developed municipalities, while targeted grants strengthen the tax base in rural areas. Transfers have mixed effects: targeted grants strongly stimulate investment and support local development but tend to increase debt; general subsidies weaken local tax capacity and reduce fiscal autonomy, although they improve short-term fiscal discipline. In municipalities with limited fiscal independence, transfers act as short-term compensatory tools, fostering dependence on state aid rather than self-reliance. A macroeconomic crowding-out effect also appears, as higher transfers reduce private sector resources. Regarding fiscal discipline, equalization and compensatory subsidies decrease debt levels, whereas targeted grants can raise debt in urban municipalities with co-financing obligations. General subsidies show fiscal replacement effects, substituting local revenue sources. The findings provide insights for designing transfer systems that balance financial support with incentives for local autonomy and sustainable development.

ABSTRACT In recent years, the entry of artificial intelligence into supply-chain management has changed how corporations look at compliance and human rights. Artificial intelligence or AI is being used progressively in the global supply chains not only to enhance traceability, detect threats, and assist businesses but also to aid in adhering to human rights regulations. However, incorporation of the technologies into corporate governance presents its own set of new difficulties, even though businesses and authorities portray them as answers to long-standing problems like forced labor in industry and child labor in agriculture. This paper critically examined the ways in which AI affects human rights enforcement in complicated manufacturing networks. It argues that while algorithmic technologies increase visibility, they also provide additional levels of opaqueness, unequal regulation, and foreign control, which frequently disproportionately affect Global South suppliers. The author has examined three main ideas. First, it investigated the conflict between algorithmic opacity and accountability, wondering whether AI improves openness or merely substitutes one type of secrecy with another. Secondly, it investigated the implications of extraterritorial regulation, specifically that how AI interacts with legislative frameworks from the Global North, such as UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act 2021, and the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and how these laws are affecting the producers in developing economies. Lastly, it examined the erosion of legal diversity and sovereignty, examining how AI-driven compliance systems perpetuate Northern goals while potentially undermining local labor standards and regulatory autonomy in countries such as India, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Drawing on the diverse spectrum of academic and policy literature like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011), OECD and ILO publications, this research places AI into the larger global political economy of regulation. It suggested that algorithmic governance might impair structural inequities unless it is based on transparent, participative, and context-sensitive frameworks. Conclusively, this research calls for a more inclusive approach. The study contended that AI should supplement and not replace, legal responsibility, and that effective accountability must be supported in human rights principles that respect the diversity and sovereignty of the Global South.

The present article examines the manner in which local self-government functions as a constitutional resilience mechanism in Ukraine during periods of martial law. The study focuses on the operation of decentralisation, fiscal autonomy and local public finance under conditions of extreme security pressure, and on the influence of these factors on the protection of human rights and the maintenance of social stability at the hromadas level. The analysis seeks to comprehend the interplay between constitutional precepts, institutional frameworks, and emergency legislation with local economic capacities during periods of large-scale warfare. The research employs doctrinal legal analysis, qualitative case studies, constitutional texts and Ukrainian public finance data. The text goes on to consider wartime changes in local budget policy, the emergency redistribution of funds, and the role of subnational authorities in ensuring the continuity of services, particularly with regard to the social rights of vulnerable groups. Prior to 2022, decentralisation had substantially strengthened hromadas, with concomitant improvements in accountability and participation. However, the introduction of martial law created hard constraints, generating tension between centralised wartime governance and local autonomy. Nevertheless, many local self-government bodies demonstrated a strong capacity for adaptation, particularly with regard to maintaining social services, humanitarian supply chains and emergency local development solutions. These findings highlight the need to update constitutional and budget legislation to reflect wartime realities and future reconstruction scenarios. Securing stable local revenue streams, integrating European municipal standards and embedding decentralisation as a constitutional principle of resilience should be given strategic priority. By demonstrating how local self-governance can continue to protect rights under existential threat, this article makes a contribution to comparative constitutional law. It provides insights that are relevant to Ukraine’s post-war constitutional settlement and EU integration trajectory.