LOCAL GOVERNEMENT

A democracy is any system of government in which rule is exercised either directly by the people (direct democracy) or by means of elected representatives of the people (representative democracy). The acceptance of democratic values such as equality and individual liberty constitutes the essence of democracy. The key idea of democracy is that the people hold sovereign power. According to Abraham Lincoln democracy is “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”.

Democracy may take one of the two basic forms: direct and indirect. In direct democracy the people realize their power by voting on issues individually as citizens. But such form of democracy exists only in very small societies where citizens can actually meet regularly to discuss and decide key urgent problems (f.e. cantons of Switzerland). In indirect or representative democracy the people elect representatives and delegate them power to make laws and conduct government.

Government is the mechanism through which the public will is expressed and made effective. The public will may be voiced by the people directly, through the agency of the initiative and referendum, but more often it is made manifest by action of the elected representatives in parliaments, legislatures and municipal councils. Representative democracy means a system of limited government where the people are the ultimate source of governmental power.

Any social grouping possesses a kind of governmental structure. Local government is the basis of national self-government. Its essentiality is grounded on providing members of the community with various services for their benefit. The notion of self-government denotes the right and ability of local governmental authorities exercise the regulation and administration of a considerable part of social rights in the interests of local inhabitants according to their competence and legislature in force. This competence is granted by the Constitution of Ukraine and the Local Self-Government Law of Ukraine and local self-government charters.

Lawmaking, establishing, controlling and law-governing are among the main functions of the local self-government. The territory is the basis of the local government. Administratively Ukraine is divided into 24 regions and the autonomous republic of Crimea. Each region has its local government bodies. Local self-government has its common, economic and legal guarantees.

Every local government area has its council, elected by the inhabitants. Councils are the representative bodies of local self-government. Local councils’ deputies and city mayors are directly elected by the citizens. Mayor leads the executive committee of the respective council and presides at its meetings. The council passes ordinances, the laws of the city sets the tax rate on property and apportions money among the various local departments.

Material and financial basis of local government is movable and immovable property, revenues of local budgets, land, natural resources owned by territorial communities of villages, settlements, cities, city districts, as well as objects of their common property that are managed by district and oblast councils.

According to the Local Self-Government Law of Ukraine, the functions of local self-government bodies are the following: social, economic and cultural development, planning and registration, budget, finances and prices, administration of the municipal property, housing and communal services, consumer and commercial services, public catering, transport and connection, building, education, health protection, culture, physical training and sport; regulation of land relations and preservation of environment, social protection of population, external economic activity, defensive work, guaranteeing of legality law and order, the rights liberties and legal interests protection of citizens.

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