MECHANISMS FOR ENSURING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF DECENTRALIZATION AUTHORITIES IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article examines the theoretical and applied aspects of the development of territorial communities in independent Ukraine under the conditions of decentralization of state power. It is shown that the reform of local self-government and territorial organization of power in Ukraine, which has been successfully implemented since 2014, received a logical conclusion with the formation of new territorial communities and districts and the election of representative bodies in local elections on October 25, 2020. It has been proven that this reform not only created new opportunities for the development of territorial communities, but also introduced a European model of municipal government, adapted to national conditions, and thus brought our state closer to the standards of the European Union, especially after Ukraine acquired the status of a country on June 23, 2022. a candidate for joining the European community. It is substantiated that transformational changes in the system of local self-government are accompanied by a number of risks of decentralization and administrative-territorial reform, which are associated with the existence and accumulation of institutional, resource, and socio-demographic barriers and which should be taken into account during the development and implementation of specific mechanisms for the development of territories. It has been proven that this reform is, without exaggeration, the number one reform in Ukraine, the results of which depend not only on the development of democracy, civil society, the effectiveness of local institutions of public power, but also on the overall success of our country and its European perspective. It was concluded that the social transformations started in Ukraine require further legislative and organizational changes aimed at strengthening the measures of regional policy, designed to achieve the convergence of the development of the regions, the activation of the population to solve their own needs and interests.