The System of Local Self-Governance: Searching for the Optimal Model
The paper is devoted to some conceptual issues of reforming local self-government in the Russian Federation, which are incorporated both in the latest legislative regulation and in the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The relevance of the research is determined by the search for an optimum model of local self-government making it to be embedded in the system of public power that has been performed at the legislative level of Russia for many decades. The research is carried out with the purpose to identify problems in the legislative regulation of issues concerning the territorial organization of local self-government, as well as to elaborate a model that would be acceptable for arrangement of the relations between federal, regional, and local authorities. One of the key issues and important directions in the studied problem is expansion of the powers exercised by authorities in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation regarding regulation of the relations in the system of local self-government. The latter is important from the position of assessment of the constitutional regulations on the independence of local self-government, as well as the right of the population to independently determine the structure of the local government and the right of the federal and regional legislators to consolidate the general principles of organization of local self-government. The latest legislative innovations have introduced a number of changes in the model of differentiation of powers in the sphere of organization of local self-government. That allows to indicate a decisive role of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the matters concerning the order of organization of local self-government. Enhancing of the role of regional authorities is explained by the desire of the legislator to expand the influence of public authorities on organization of the local self-government system, thereby to legalize the actual and not always simple and clear relationship between the heads of local municipalities and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Among the revealed innovations, the key role in the search for an optimum model of organization of local self-government is given to decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The authors of the paper analyze the recent decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in the sphere of local self-government. Attention is focused on the doctrinally important conclusions made by this judicial body for further reforming of the territorial pattern of local self-government. The conclusion is made about the need for extension of the legislative powers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation that would expand the variability of legal regulation and would create a variety of tools to evaluate and select the most effective legal mechanisms for achieving the objectives of municipal government.