General Description of the Problems of Administrative and Territorial Structure in the Field of Local Self-Government

Abstract

The relevance of the research topic is due to the current development of legal regulation of the administrative and territorial structure in Ukraine, the reform processes in the field of territorial organisation of power which have taken place in recent years and have directly affected the system of administrative and territorial division at the rayon level and changes in the territorial organisation of the basic level of local self-government. This is due, among other things, to the adoption of a new law aimed at regulating the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine, which contains innovative approaches to addressing the issues of administrative and territorial structure. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive coverage of the territorial problems arising at the present stage in the field of local self-government or with the involvement of local self-government entities, and which create obstacles to the further development of the latter. The study applies a systematic approach, dialectical methods, a synergistic approach, and other general philosophical and scientific methods, such as systemic-structural, structural-functional, formal-legal, prognostic methods, and methods of analysis and synthesis. It is proved that the development of local self-government in Ukraine is ambiguous, with different trends - either to strengthen its reform, or to a complete standstill of any change processes. The latter trend of intensifying the reform is associated with the adoption by the Government of Ukraine of the Concept of Reforming Local Self-Government and Territorial Organisation of Power, which became the driving force for further decentralisation processes in Ukraine and affected the development of local self-government. As a result, a number of key legal, organisational, financial and territorial issues have been resolved. The Concept pays particular attention to territorial issues, linking the effectiveness of the organisation of power to the territorial basis. The territory is a unifying category, reflecting the limits of exercise of powers of local self-government bodies and officials, distribution of their legal acts, showing the number and composition of individuals and legal entities, and the activity of their participation in the implementation of local self-government. At the same time, despite the fact that the Concept pays considerable attention to the territory and identifies a number of problems related to its improvement, in practice, additional territorial problems arise that negatively affect the implementation of local self-government. Among them: 1) the issue of substitution of legal concepts and categories in the field of administrative and territorial structure; 2) the need to reform the constitutional principles of administrative and territorial structure and territorial organisation of power; 3) the need to improve the territorial organisation of power at the level of districts; 4) the issue of legal status and organisation of power within the territories of the regional level; 5) the issue of improving the legal regulation of formation of artificial territories; 6) the need to ensure constant provision of sufficient material, financial and social support. On the basis of the study, the author draws conclusions and provides recommendations related to the improvement of legal regulation of the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine, and proposes appropriate amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine and laws which would allow harmonising legislation in this area and solving the identified problems.