Institute of the President of Ukraine: dynamics of spheres of competence

Abstract

The article analyzes the process of formation and the role of the president’s institution in the structure of the executive power of Ukraine. The activity of the Institute of the President of Ukraine, as well as the specifics of its functioning in the conditions of a hybrid and full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, were studied. It has been proven that in the course of the establishment of the presidential institution, a number of problems arose regarding the limits of presidential powers, as well as the spheres of responsibility of the head of state. The adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine in 1996 ensured the establishment of presidentialism in Ukraine — the personified power of the president. The institution of a strong president provoked a permanent conflict both in the structure of the executive power along the „president-prime minister” line, and between the president and the parliament.After the Orange Revolution of 2004, the presidential-parliamentary republic was transformed into a parliamentary-presidential one. However, the strengthening of the role of the prime minister and the parliament did not become the reason for the impossibility of conflict between the branches of the Ukrainian government, which became the trigger for the restoration of authoritarian tendencies with the coming to power of V.Yanukovych and the return to the so-called presidentialist model of executive power. As a result, this led to the uncontrolled growth of the influence of a narrow group of representatives of pro-presidential financial and industrial groups and became the cause of a social explosion in 2014 — known as the Revolution of Dignity. The return of the parliamentary-presidential model of the Constitution optimized the powers of the president, balancing his influence with strengthening the role of the parliament. However, the provision of constitutional reform regarding the optimization and balancing of presidential powers was made impossible both by the lobbying of the personal interests of the president and his entourage, and by the start of a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022.

Keywords

• the institution of the president
• executive power
• constitutional process
• political crisis