Local self-government in the Russian Federation: the trajectory of conceptual development

The article is devoted to the changes in the conceptual understanding of the institution of local self-government that has been taking place in the last three decades. The submission to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the Draft  Federal Law «On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in the unified system of public authority», which took place at the end of 2021, allows analyzing the trajectory of the development of the institute of local self-government in post-Soviet Russia from the point of view of a more global time and conceptual perspective. The purpose of this work is to identify the trajectory of the development of the conception of local self-government in RF. Research attention is focused on identifying the conception of local self-government formulated in official documents, a gradual change in the conceptual interpretation of this institution. It is shown that the main shiftin the conceptual understanding of local self-government occurs along the axis of institutional independence / institutional dependence of local self-government on state authorities. The development of the conceptual understanding of local self-government in post-Soviet Russia proceeds along the trajectory from a public concept (local self-government as an independent activity) to a state one (local self-government as a form of exercising power) and to a hyperstate one (local self-government as a link in a unified system of exercising authority).

1. Buxval`d E. M., Kozhevnikov O.A., Voroshilov N. V. Local self-government:reform, but not destroy // Samoupravlenie. 2022. No. 1(129). P. 12–15. (In Russian). DOI 10.55488/22218173_2022_1_12

2. Campbell А. State versus society? Local government and the reconstruction of the Russian state // Local government studies. L.: Routledge, Taylor and Francis group. 2006. Vol. 32. No. 5. November. Р. 659–676.

3. Chertkov A. N. Th e public government: the composition, unity and interaction essence // Konstitucionnoe i municipal`noe pravo. 2020. No. 10. P. 19–23. (In Russian) DOI 10.18572/1812-3767-2020-10-19-23

4. Gelman V. Th e Return of Actors: Th e Dynamics of Political Regimes and Its Interpretation // Dismantling of Communism. Th irty years later. M.: Nov. lit. obozr., 2021. P. 116–150. (In Russian)

5. Ivanova M. A. Amendments-2020 as a basis for strengthening the expansion of the state over local self-government bodies // Vestn. Ross. pravovoj akad. 2021. No 3. P. 20–25. (In Russian) DOI 10.33874/2072-9936-2021-0-3-20-25

6. Leksin V. N. What is going on with the local self-government in Russia? // Federalizm. 2016. No. 1(81). P. 65–76. (In Russian)

7. Mitrokhin S. Features of the implementation of a municipal project in Russia: some aspects of federal policy // Reforma mestnogo samoupravleniya v regional`nom izmerenii. M.: MONF, 1999. P. 29–30. (In Russian)

8. Nechaev V. D. “Institutional organization” as the conceptual tool of the institutional analysis in political science // Vestn. Mosk. gos. gumanit. un-ta im. M. A. Sholohova. Istoriya i politologiya. 2011. No. 1. P. 97–105. (In Russian)

9. Nechaev V. D. Th e main trends in the institutional organization of local self-government in modern Russia // Politiya: Analiz. Xronika. Prognoz (Zhurn. polit. fi losofi i i sociologii politiki). 2006. No. 4. P. 22–44. (In Russian)

10. Pashencev V. Organization of local self-government in Russian regions: datas and types // Reform of local self-government in the regional dimension. M., 1999. P. 44–57. (In Russian)

11. Reform of local government in Russian cities, 1991–2006 / A. O. Brezman (Ed.). SPb.: Norma, 2008. (In Russian)

12. Ross С. Th e tortuous path of local government reform in the Russian federation // Local government studies. L.: Routledge, Taylor and Francis group, 2006. Vol. 32. No 5. November. Р. 639–658.

13. Stepanov M. M. Local self-government in the context of the 2020 constitutional reform // Aktual`ny`e problemy` rossijskogo prava. 2021. Vol. 16. No. 5. P. 35–41. (In Russian)

14. Uporov I. V. Local government in russia on the threshold of change: there are questions to the draft law // Gumanitarny`e, social`no-e`konomicheskie i obshhestvenny`e nauki. 2022. No. 1. P. 123–127. (In Russian)

15. Zikeev V. Technocratization of local self-government // Vopr. mestnogo samoupravleniya: strategiya i praktika municipal`nogo razvitiya. 2022. No. 1 (97). P. 74–7 7. (In Russian)