Today, the reform of local self-government launched in 2014 is increasingly losing the pace of its implementation due to the factors which are both objective and subjective. One of the major factors restraining this reform is the imperfection of constitutional and legal regulation of relations in the local self-government area. This predetermines the need for a deeper analysis of the processes in the area of democracy and local self-government, as well as of the factors and obstacles which hinder their development in Ukraine.

The aim of the article is to study the essence of democracy and local self-government and their interrelation, and also to analyze the current situation with constitutional and legal regulation of local self-government in the mechanism of democracy, and to formulate conclusions, proposals and recommendations on the elimination of obstacles to its further development and on the main vectors for increasing its efficiency.

The constitutional categories “rule of the people”, “people’s sovereignty”, “local selfgovernment” are closely interrelated. As an explanation of their correlation, it is noted that local self-government is one of the main forms of implementation of people’s sovereignty. Local self-government owes its existence to the constituent rule of the people. It is the will of the people expressed via elections that makes the power of local self-government legitimate. Local self-government plays an important role in the democracy mechanism, and this stems primarily from the autonomy of its bodies as regards the system of State government bodies, and also from the absence of hierarchical subordination and the presence of a separate object of administration – issues of local importance. Local self-government bodies, being responsible to territorial communities, may pursue an independent policy and protect local interests, acting for this purpose within the framework of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, and by resorting to court, to restrain State government bodies from exceeding their authority. Assessing the efficiency of implementation of the democracy principle in Ukraine, we have to state that today the will of the people is deprived of legal means of manifestation, except for elections. For a long time, the Parliament is ignoring the introduction of specific mechanisms for the efficiency of democracy, and the people are not capable of making decisions at national and local referendums.

The current state of social development necessitates a radical upgrade of the constitutional and legal basis of the democracy mechanism. The people should be provided with the possibility to exercise their right to express their will with regard to the most important issues, namely: a) to determine and change constitutionally established order in Ukraine, in particular, the place and role of local self-government; b) to restrict public power by law; c) to stand against State power grab and usurpation by violence or other unconstitutional or illegal means by State government bodies and local self-government bodies, their officials, citizens or their associations; d) to demand that human rights and freedoms (the right of citizens to participate in administration of the State’s affairs, in the all-Ukrainian and local referendums) be implemented; e) to counteract the abolition or restriction of the right to exercise local self-government which is recognized and guaranteed in Ukraine; f) to own, use and dispose of the objects of the people’s ownership right, f) to control State government authorities and their officials.

Bibliography

Authored books

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2. Bondar’ N, Mestnoe samoupravlenie i konstitucionnoe pravosudie: konstitucionalizacija municipal’noj demokratii v Rossii [Local Self-Government and Constitutional Justice: Constitutionalization of Municipal Democracy in Russia] (Norma 2008) (in Russian).

3. Chapala H, Mistseve samovriaduvannia v systemi publichnoi vlady: teoretyko-pravovyi analiz [Local Self-Government in the System of Public Power: Theoretical and Legal Analysis] (Pravo 2006) (in Ukrainian).

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7. Kuibida V, Pryntsypy i metody diialnosti orhaniv mistsevoho samovriaduvannia [Principles and Methods of Operation of Local Self-Government Bodies] (MAUP 2004) (in Ukrainian).

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10. Skrypniuk O, Demokratiia: Ukraina i svitovyi vymir (kontseptsii, modeli ta suspilna praktyka) [Democracy: Ukraine and the World Dimension (Concepts, Models, and Social Practice)] (Lohos 2006) (in Ukrainian).

Edited and translated books

11. Instituty samoupravlenija: istoriko-pravovoe issledovanie [Self-Government Institutions: Historical and Legal Research] (Mamut L otv red, Nauka 1995) (in Russian).

12. Kojen D i Arato J, Grazhdanskoe obshhestvo i politicheskaja teorija [Civil Society and Political Theory] (per s angl, Mjurberg I obshh red, Ves’ Mir 2003) (in Russian).

13. Konstytutsiia Ukrainy: naukovo-praktychnyi komentar [The Constitution of Ukraine: Scientific and Practical Commentary] (Tatsii V ta in red kol, Pravo, In Yure 2003) (in Ukrainian).

14. Mistseve samovriaduvannia v umovakh detsentralizatsii vlady v Ukraini [Local SelfGovernment under Conditions of Power Decentralization in Ukraine] (Pliushch R red, RIDNA MOVA 2016) (in Ukrainian). 15. Municipal’noe pravo zarubezhnyh stran (sravnitel’no-pravovoj analiz) [Municipal Law of Foreign Countries (Comparative Legal Analysis)] (Eremjan V red, Akademicheskij Proekt; Fond “Mir” 2006) (in Russian).

16. Munitsypalne pravo Ukrainy: pidruchnyk [Municipal Law of Ukraine: Textbook] (Pohorilko V ta Frytskyi O red, Yurinkom Inter 2001) (in Ukrainian).

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18. Zahalna teoriia derzhavy i prava [General Theory of State and Law] (Tsvik M ta inshi red, Pravo 2002) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

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23. Liubchenko P, ‘Mistseve samovriaduvannia yak faktor zabezpechennia stabilnosti konstytutsiinoho ladu i forma realizatsii narodovladdia v Ukraini’ [‘Local SelfGovernment as a Factor of Ensuring the Stability of Constitutionally Established Order and a Form of Implementing Democracy in Ukraine’] [2013] 4 (75) Visnyk Natsionalnoi akademii pravovykh nauk Ukrainy 62 (in Ukrainian).

24. Matsiuk A, ‘Narodovladdia yak osnova vdoskonalennia konstytutsiinykh zasad zhyttiediialnosti suspilstva’ [‘Rule of the People as the Basis for Improving the Constitutional Foundations of Society Functioning’] [2015] 4(20) Publichne pravo 76-83 (in Ukrainian).

25. Nelina N, ‘Mistseve samovriaduvannia yak sfera realizatsii konstytutsiinoi pravosub’iektnosti ukrainskoho narodu’ [‘Local Self-Government as a Domain for Implementing Constitutionally Established Legal Personality of the Ukrainian People’] (2013) 1 Chasopys Kyivskoho universytetu prava 104 (in Ukrainian).

26. Orzikh M, ‘Administratyvno-pravovyi status orhaniv mistsevoho samovriaduvannia’ [‘Administrative and Legal Status of Local Self-Government Bodies’] (2002) 2 Yurydycheskyi vestnyk 101 (in Ukrainian).

27. Petryshyn O, ‘Narodovladdia yak fundament demokratychnoi, pravovoi, sotsialnoi derzhavy’ [‘Rule of the People as the Foundation of a Democratic, Rule-of-Law, Social Welfare State’] (2009) 4 Visnyk Akademii pravovykh nauk Ukrainy 20-30 (in Ukrainian).

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30. Todyka O, ‘Problemy stanovlennia narodovladdia: teoretychnyi ta konstytutsiinopravovyi aspekty’ [‘Issues of Democracy Establishment: Theoretical, Constitutional and Legal Aspects’] [2004] 2(3) Pravo i Bezpeka 21-5 (in Ukrainian).

31. Todyka O, ‘Spivvidnoshennia konstytutsiinoho ladu i narodovladdia: teoriia i praktyka’ [‘Correlation of Constitutionally Established Order and Democracy: Theory and Practice’] (2005) 2 Visnyk Akademii pravovykh nauk Ukrainy 81 (in Ukrainian).

Thesis

32. Mykhailovska K, ‘Mistseve samovriaduvannia yak forma narodovladdia: osoblyvosti instytutsiinoi modeli v Ukraini’ [‘Local Self-Government as a Form of Democracy: Specifics of the Institutional Model in Ukraine’] (avtoref dys kand polit nauk, 2010) (in Ukrainian).