Состоятельная территориальная община по-украински: теоретическая модель и практика создания

Abstract

The article considers the issues of decentralization, implemented in Ukraine after 2014, and the reforms of local self-government and territorial authority organization in Ukraine as the first stage of the administrative reform. The goal of this stage is creation of capable territorial communities as the basis for the fully functional local self-government. A capable territorial community is a voluntary association of territorial communities of villages (towns, settlements), which is be able to provide the proper level of services, particularly in the fields of education, culture, health protection, social services, housing and communal services, in­dependently or through appropriate local government, in view of human resources, financial provision and development of the infrastructure of the respective administrative-territorial unit. The author considers the intermediate results of the process of association of territorial communities and observes the improvement of financial and resource opportunities in the connected communities. At the same time, he focuses on a number of objective and subjec­tive factors affecting the reforms rate. Objective factors include the lack of legislative regu-lation of new institutions and relations arising in the process of change. Subjective factors are the lack of political will on the part of decision makers, primarily among the members of Parliament, as well as opposition from local political and administrative elites. Another im­portant factor is the disinclination of the communities to unite or a substantial difference of approach to association between state authorities and communities. Identification and analy-sis of such factors are important for prognostication and preventing delays in the territorial communities association process, as well as for the implementation of the entire reform.