Local Government Reform Research Articles

PRINCIPLES AND MECHANISMS OF FORMATION OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Topicality. The study of the development mechanisms of regional economic systems is an urgent task in connection with the reform of decentralization in Ukraine, which creates new opportunities for economic development of territories. The relevance of this study is determined by: the State Strategy for Regional Development 2021-2027 (Strategic Objectives � 1-3) [1], the Concept of Local Government Reform [2], the National Economic Strategy for the period up to 2030 [3]. In particular, these documents emphasize [1] the need to build competitive regions and functional areas by involving all actors in development and overcoming the inequality of socio-economic development of regions. Aim and tasks. The aim of the article is to determine the conceptual foundations and methodological principles of building and increasing the capacity of economic systems of territorial communities in Ukraine, as well as the formation of mechanisms for implementing relevant principles of forming and ensuring effective functioning of regional economic systems. Research results. The basic principles according to which the regional economy should develop are revealed. The problem of regional economic systems (RES) management from the point of view of network management is considered. The hypothesis of a new economic system is put forward. The connection of the institutional basis of RES with the goals of sustainable development is shown. The institutional basis for ensuring the effective development of regional economic systems in the context of local government reform is substantiated and the current principles are formulated, according to which territorial economic systems should function in accordance with the requirements of national and European regulations. Hypotheses about the need to supplement the existing list of principles of functioning of regional economic systems with the principles of structural and institutional support of their development are proved. The mechanisms of realization of the principles of functioning of regional economic systems in modern conditions are substantiated, which include instruments: tax, credit, financial-budgetary, organizational-infrastructural, property-legal. Measures are proposed to ensure effective economic cooperation of communities. Conclusion. The successful functioning of communities depends primarily on the activities of regional economic systems. The joint implementation of economic projects by communities is most conducive to their cooperation in all areas. The activities of the regional economic system must comply with the principle of structure and the principle of economic cohesion (economic solidarity). In the long run, these principles should lead to the emergence of a new solidarity-based economic paradigm.

The temporal dependence of public policy evaluation: the case of local government amalgamation

ABSTRACT Amalgamation has been a cornerstone of many local government reform programmes internationally. However, there has been a lack of consensus in the academic literature surrounding the outcomes associated with amalgamation. One potential explanation for this is the difference in the length of time over which the evaluation takes place. In order to determine if the impacts of boundary reform are indeed temporally dependent on nature, we collected and analysed a 17-year panel of empirical data from a large-scale amalgamation programme in 2008. Our results indicate that the outcomes arising from the program do indeed display variation over time, with initial savings being negated by increased costs in the medium-term and ultimately an insignificant impact over the long term. The public policy implications and recommendations suggested by our analysis have important implications for the design and evaluation of future local government boundary reform programmes.

Tin Mining Licensing in the Era of Local Government Reform

The dynamics of the legal politics of regulating mineral and coal licensing authorities have undergone significant changes. Initially, the authority was given by law to local governments, and now this authority is taken over by the central government. The purpose of this research is to find out the direction and philosophical basis of the legal politics behind the amendments to the Mineral and Coal Law and its implications for the mining licensing authority. The benefits obtained from research are that some significant changes in mining licensing authority can be identified and the terms and stages. The research method uses normative legal research. The research study results concluded that the centralistic paradigm of granting permits in an integrated manner also marks the shift of regional authority from attribution to delegation authority. Affirming the political direction of mining law is a priority for the central government's authority when several strategic articles have been amended and even eliminated. Amendments to the formulation in Article 4 (mineral and coal control rights) and Article 6 (mining management authority) of the 2020 Mineral and Coal Law show no longer partiality for local governments to allocate mining licensing authority.

Experience of Providing of Administrative Services in the Sphere of Migration in Ukraine

The problems posed by migration and the processes that affect its spread are identified in the article. Labour migration occupies an important place in state regulation in Ukraine. The authors focus on the implementation of state migration policy, local government reform, decentralization of power relations. Research papers on the implementation of state migration policy, the activities of public authorities at the local level, the providing of administrative services have been studied. Certain powers, including the providing of administrative services, have been transferred from the central level to the local level. Administrative services are provided through administrative service centres. Administrative services are classified into groups. Some aspects of normative-legal, institutional and other providing are revealed. Attention is paid to the development of electronic services in the sphere of migration. The state of provision of public services by the public authorities to the population in the sphere of migration is analysed. The problem of internally displaced persons from the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts is emphasized. The article presents information on the provision of administrative services to internally displaced persons by the territorial bodies of the State Migration Service of Ukraine. The authors present data on administrative services provided on the example of Vyshhorod regional branch of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and Kyiv region. The results of the survey on the quality of receiving administrative services by the population are presented. It is noted that to ensure the availability of administrative services there is a need to implement modern methods, mechanisms, tools and technologies for implementing public policy with the involvement of representatives of public and business environments. Personnel issues, which will be the subject of further research, remain urgent.

Provision of Capacity Territorial Communities in Ukraine

The article examines the essence of the concept of capacity of territorial communities in Ukraine in the context of local government reform. It is noted that one of the main tasks of local governments in the context of local government reform is to strengthen the capacity of the territorial community, which is able to ensure respect for the rights and interests of its inhabitants, as well as their protection. It is proved that strengthening the capacity of territorial communities is a process of increasing the ability of local governments to act within the law, implementing the rule of law. Gathering more powers and resources for the implementation of the united territorial communities, as well as responsibilities, should be the main result of the decentralization reform in Ukraine. That is why today the provision of the capacity of territorial communities is an urgent goal of both residents of territorial communities and local governments. It is noted that the territorial community, as an administrative-territorial unit of the basic level, is the integrity of the components: territorial-natural, demographic, economic, social and cultural-mental, and therefore is created by the criteria of historical certainty and socio-economic feasibility. It is proved that the capacity of the local community is the availability of budgetary, financial, resource, infrastructure and personnel conditions that determine the ability of the local community to provide quality public services to the population, as well as the ability to use their own potential — managerial, financial, economic, investment, human, public participation. It is noted that this area of research in the context of local government reform remains extremely relevant for further research.

Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the provincial MuniMEC forum inter-government relations structures in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Background: This research examines the effectiveness and efficiency of the Provincial MuniMEC in facilitating the Inter-Government Relations (IGR) arrangements for improvement provincial service provision mandate in the Eastern Cape Province. Post-1994 local government reforms led to the establishment of wall-to-wall municipalities to accelerate municipal services provision and the introduction of systemic municipal service provision guidelines as part of socio-economic transformation. Objective: The effectiveness and efficiency of this plan remains unclear. This research intends to address this issue with the view to contribute on strategies that can be adopted to improve service provision through the integration of IGR structures. Method: The study adopted a qualitative approach by administering structured questionnaires to purposely selected participants and carefully reviewed various documents and policies in IGR and Local Government. The questionnaire analysis included theoretical propositions that incorporated the efficiency of the provincial MuniMEC IGR structures, the legal IGR framework, and the participatory approach in MuniMEC IGR structures by stakeholders. Result: One core finding is that the MuniMEC IGR structure has contributed to the coordination and integration of government service delivery interventions at municipalities, yet little empirical evidence explains this improvement. Research shows that government’s IGR obligation to coordinate the integration of government service delivery interventions to municipalities could have more impact on service delivery improvement than the utilisation of a single-oriented approach. This study provides lessons on the view that any regulation without a structured implementation plan leads to poor service delivery. A key recommendation is that both the national and provincial government need to promote shared service delivery through the enhancement of the IGR framework.

Fragile states, decentralisation and the nature of barriers to citizen participation in local government: a view from Pakistan

The purpose of decentralisation reforms is to narrow the gap between the public and government and increase public participation in decision-making. However, empirical evidence from developing countries suggests otherwise. A case in point is Pakistan, even though it has a well-structured local government system consisting of three levels of government, district, tehsil and union councils. Nevertheless, Pakistan’s nascent but fragile democracy and the non-democratic nature of decision-making at the state level prevent public participation and as a result do not remove but rather create obstacles to citizens’ involvement in service delivery. This paper therefore argues that citizen participation in Pakistan’s local government system faces more barriers which are imposed by the centralised state rather than removing hurdles to community participation. I demonstrate that having well-structured local governments is not enough for community engagement instead of a nation-state’s strong commitment to pro-community participation. The aim of this study is to identify and examine the barriers to public participation and how they prevent participation in the local government service delivery process, especially when non-democratic countries such as Pakistan introduce local government reforms. A qualitative study was carried out with a questionnaire containing seven open-ended qualitative questions. The thematically analysed results show that the military establishment introduced local government systems which have used local governments to suppress community autonomy and prevent community participation. As there is a patron/client relationship between the central government of Pakistan and the feudal lords and local elites, local elites have indulged in corruption and favouritism which hinder public participation at the grassroots level in the local governments in the province of Sindh, in Pakistan.

Concepts and features of certain elements of the legal status of civil servants in Ukraine

The article notes that the active reform processes taking place in Ukraine have a significant impact on the development of Ukraine as a legal, social and democratic state. Currently, there is an active reform of public administration and local government. The legislator and the legal status of the civil service in Ukraine did not miss attention in the field of legal support reform. Thus, the active development of the civil service institute has gone from the emergence of development and reform to the current state of legal support and institutional affiliation of various genera and types of civil service
 The term «legal status» should be understood as a system of statutory freedoms and obligations, as well as guarantees for the activities of a civil servant in the process of his civil service. Thus, we can identify the following thesis, which once again emphasizes the importance of the legal status of a civil servant. Thus, a civil servant is a person who, in order to perform the tasks and functions of the state, exercises his constitutional right to participate in the management of public affairs and carries out his activities within certain statutory powers manifested in the system of rights and responsibilities of a civil servant. in connection with admission to the civil service and remain with him throughout the term of service.
 Legislative consolidation of the legal status of civil servants is reflected in a number of regulations, including the Labor Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine "On Civil Service" as well as acts of sectoral legislation (eg Law of Ukraine "On the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine") and other acts sectoral legislation aimed at legal regulation of the legal status of civil servants.

Does ethnic diversity affect public goods provision? Evidence from boundary reform of local governments

ABSTRACT This study explores how ethnic fractionalization affects the provision of public goods using Japanese city data, and attempts to address potential endogeneity by using boundary reforms of local governments. The results show that an increase in ethnic fractionalization has a significantly negative effect on spending on productive public goods (roads and bridges) and positive effects on spending on nonproductive public goods (sanitation and trash collection). However, ethnic fractionalization is unrelated to the provision of other local public goods such as education and welfare.

СОВРЕМЕННОЕ РЕФОРМИРОВАНИЕ МЕСТНОГО САМОУПРАВЛЕНИЯ: ПОЛИТОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ

The article is devoted to the current state of the problems of reforming local self-government and the direct relationship of political parties to the reform of local self-government in Russia. The subject of the article is the aspects of reforming local self-government in the vision of political parties. The purpose of the article is to study the essence of municipal reform in the party discourse devoted to the problems of constitutional reform of local government at the present stage of development of Russia. This article presents various methods, such as analysis, comparative method, which to a greater extent make it possible to define the conceptual apparatus, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current state of local self-government in Russia in the context of municipal reform. The reform of local self-government initiated in 2019 affected the essential constitutional foundations of local government that have existed since the adoption of the Constitution of Russia in 1993. In the new constitutional and legal realities, a qualitatively new model of local self-government in our country has been fixed: the place of local government in the vertical of state power, the territorial basis of local self-government, the structure of local self-government bodies and the procedure for institutionalization of local self-government bodies and officials has changed. The attitude of representatives of political parties to this municipal reform is quite polar, party members do not unequivocally assess the consequences of the reform of local government. The results of the study can be useful in conducting seminars for municipal employees and heads of municipalities, and the results of the article can also be applied in the work of members of political parties and their regional branches, whose members are members of legislative (representative) bodies of Russia and its subjects, in the course of legislative activity

2022: local governance reform in Russia

2022: local governance reform in Russia

ДИНАМИКА СОСТОЯНИЯ МУНИЦИПАЛЬНЫХ БЮДЖЕТОВ ДАЛЬНЕВОСТОЧНЫХ СУБЪЕКТОВ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ ЗА ГОДЫ РЕФОРМЫ

In the work, the author reveals the predominance of low financial independence of urban and municipal budgets of the Far East districts, against the background of a decrease in the possibility of free disposal of budgetary resources for all types of municipalities for the entire period of local government reform.

Conceptual Problems of Local Government Reform in Russia

Conceptual Problems of Local Government Reform in Russia

To the question of local government reform

To the question of local government reform

The nexus between the traditional system of governance and the local government system in Karamoja, Uganda

In the 1990s several countries in Africa adopted decentralisation policy reforms that coincided with a renewed interest in traditional institutions. This development has since sparked an intense debate on the compatibility of traditional systems of governance with decentralisation. The present article documents a case study conducted in Uganda’s Karamoja sub-region, a stronghold of traditionalism despite local government reforms. It concludes that although the traditional system of governance could help to link local communities with the modern local government system, the two structures have not been harmonised. Instead, they run on parallel and contradictory paths, which has had negative consequences for local governance and service delivery. The paper advocates blending the two to form a hybrid system in which they complement each other rather than being a source of conflict.

Changes in the Local Territorial Government Organization and Their Effect on Municipal Budgets (by the Example of Trans-Baikal Region)

The current reform of local governments in Russia is a process of optimization, consolidation and changing the territorial government organization, which corresponds to global trends in searching for a relevant and effective local territorial governance scheme. The new wave of interest to this process in the RF has been caused by establishing a new type of municipality, namely, municipal district. The article studies the problem of changes in local territorial governance organization in Russia and in Trans-Baikal region, in particular, as well as the effect of these changes on municipal budgets. The analytical calculations are based on the data from The Federal State Statistic Service of RF; the time lag for analyzing the local territorial governance organization is the period of 2007–2020, and 2016–2020 — for analyzing the budget funding of the transformed municipalities in Trans-Baikal region. The results of the study show that the common trends of consolidation of municipalities in Russia became evident only in 2020. According to the analysis of income and expenditures per capita, the territorial transformation of municipality influences the budget relations on the municipal level. Basing on the results of the study, the author proves the necessity of conducting a complex analysis before taking a decision to change a local territorial governance organization in order to build up the financial base of the municipalities.

SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION AND EFFICIENT USE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES, ON THE EXAMPLE OF PODILSK DISTRICT (RAION) OF ODESSA REGION

SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION AND EFFICIENT USE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES, ON THE EXAMPLE OF PODILSK DISTRICT (RAION) OF ODESSA REGION

Зарубіжний досвід проведення децентралізаційних змін: уроки для України

Розглянуто зарубіжний досвід проведення реформи адміністративно-територіального устрою та децентралізації державного управління, перерозподілу повноважень, зміни у бюджетних відносинах країн Балтії та Хорватії. Зазначено, що питання децентралізації є першочерговими в умовах розвитку місцевого самоврядування та забезпечення його спроможності самостійно, завдяки власним ресурсам, вирішувати проблеми місцевого значення.

Напрями підвищення ефективності управління територіальною громадою

Розглянуто особливості управління територіальною громадою в сучасних умовах. Показано необхідність підвищення якості управління як передумови надання якісних послуг населенню територіальних громад. Запропоновано врахування певних принципів у процесі формування організаційної структури управління. Проведено аналіз видатків на утримання апарату управління в різних територіальних громадах. За результатами аналізу запропоновано підходи до підвищення ефективності управління на місцевому рівні.

The Impact of Local Government Reform and Territorial Organization of Power on Regional Development

The article considers the reform of the administrative-territorial system in Ukraine as a factor in strengthening territorial development, the state of transition to the second stage of reform. An assessment of the state of resource capacity of communities at this stage is given, and the problems that hinder the formation of wealthy communities and the negative consequences for the formation of the financial and economic potential of communities and regions are described. Conclusions are formulated.