Муніципальна реформа в сучасній Україні: конституційно правовий аналіз

Abstract

Дисертаційне дослідження присвячено висвітленню концептуальних конституційно-правових проблем муніципальної реформи в Україні. Показано специфіку муніципальної реформи як різновиду правової реформи, систематизовано її ознаки та види. Розкрито методологічні засади дослідження муніципальної реформи в контексті сучасних правових підходів муніципалізму. Висвітлено місце місцевого самоврядування в системі публічної влади як об’єкта муніципальної реформи. Виявлено основні теоретико-історичні закономірності здійснення муніципальних реформ у контексті розвитку місцевого самоврядування в Україні. Узагальнено основні риси конституційно- правового досвіду зарубіжних країн у здійсненні муніципальних реформ. Досліджено основні етапи та особливості здійснення сучасної муніципальної реформи в Україні. Розглядаються конституційно-правові шляхи та перспективи муніципальної реформи в механізмі конституційної модернізації сучасної України. Диссертационное исследование посвящено освещению концептуальных и конституционно-правовых проблем муниципальной реформы в Украине. Показана специфика муниципальной реформы как разновидности правовой реформы, систематизированы ее признаки и виды. Раскрыты методологические принципы исследования муниципальной реформы в контексте современных правовых подходов муниципализма. Освещено место местного самоуправления в системе публичной власти как объекта муниципальной реформы. Выявлены основные теоретико- исторические закономерности осуществления муниципальных реформ в контексте развития местного самоуправления в Украине. Обобщены основные черты конституционно-правового опыта зарубежных стран в осуществлении муниципальных реформ. Исследованы основные этапы и особенности осуществления современной муниципальной реформы в Украине. Рассматриваются конституционно-правовые пути и перспективы муниципальной реформы в механизме конституционной модернизации современной Украины. The local government is a relatively new constitutional and legal institution, the development of which in Ukraine’s history has been largely intermittent; therefore, accumulating national experience as well as elements of international experience to construct an efficient and viable model of local self-government in Ukraine is an urgent scientific, theoretical and practical task. The thesis deals with the study of both national and international experience in local government reforming, which is conditioned both by Ukraine’s heading for European integration and the need to overcome the remaining elements of the Soviet political and legal heritage constructed on the basis of an arbitrary combination of the elements of community and state concepts in the organization of municipal authorities. Pursuing a comprehensive analysis of the municipal reform as a legal phenomenon within the paradigm of systemic reforming the public power in Ukraine, the author has made an attempt to reveal the nature of the municipal reform as a subject of research in legal science and to identify the main methodological foundations of this activity, to clarify the theoretical and historical patterns of municipal reforming in the context of local government development in Ukraine and to identify key constitutional and legal problems as well as prospects for a municipal reform in modern Ukraine. As a result, for the first time in the constitutional-legal science, the author defines the municipal reform as a kind of the legal reform provided by authorized public entities in close cooperation with local territorial collectives (communities) and civil society institutions, based on a clearly defined concept (program, strategy) of changes, accompanied by the mandatory adoption of a number of legal regulations of conceptually-projective nature, and which shall result in changing the basic principles of developing and functioning of local government as an institution in whole or its institutional, organizational, regulatory or financial-economic foundations. The author highlights the features of the municipal reform as a kind of the legal reform, proves that the municipal reform can be implemented in constitutional, legislative and combined (with the combination of constitutional and legislative changes) forms, as well as distinguishes the following municipal reforms in the territory of Ukraine which chronologically covered the late eighteenth – early twentieth centuries: 1) urban reform in sub-Russian Ukraine in 1785; 2) rural, provincial and urban reforms in sub-Russian Ukraine of the 1860–1890s and municipal reforms of the 1860s and 1890s in Austria-Hungary, which included Halychyna and Bukovyna; 3) Stolypin municipal reform in sub-Russian Ukraine in the early twentieth century.; 4) local government reforms in the period of the Ukrainian Central Council, Hetmanate and Directory (1917–1920). The paper provides a detailed description of the current stage and prospects of the constitutional development of the municipal reform both in the twentieth century and in modern Ukraine, enhances scientific approaches to understanding the municipal authorities as legitimate, recognized and guaranteed public self- governing (directly or indirectly) the will of the local community, validates that local government models differ in their specific features within the generic characteristics of the respective system. On the basis of scientific understanding the existing models of local self- government, types of municipal reforming and the nature of the current stage of its development in Ukraine, the paper substantiates feasibility of singling out the current stage of the municipal reform – the years between 1991 and 2019, within which the following phases are defined: 1) post-Soviet (transitional) municipal model (1990–1996); 2) constitutionalized municipal model (1996–2004); 3) reformed constitutional model (2004–2014); 5) municipal model in the context of the latest constitutional reform (since 2014 – still ongoing). The thesis has further developed the methodological approaches to the classification of local government systems and scientific ideas about the influence of the basic concepts (theories) of local self-governing (public, state and dual) on the content, trends and effectiveness of the municipal reform; pointed out the inconsistent and fragmented application of these concepts to the practice of municipal reforming in modern Ukraine, emphasized the necessity of testing different approaches to the practice of municipal reforming in European countries taking into account the combination of constitutional, legislative and international legal elements of such reforming, provided that the main directions of such development are: decentralization of public power; delineation of powers between different levels of local self-government on the principles of local government omnipresence, subsidiary, as well as the legal, organizational and financial capacity of local government; restoration of full self-government at the level of regions and districts, etc.