THEORETICAL CONCEPTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT - THE SEARCH FOR NATURE

Abstract

The article presents the results of attempts to clarify the nature of local government. The author analyzes the emergence of concepts that explain the essence of the institution of local self-government. Understanding this phenomenon in European legal thought begins through community theory. To replace which comes the state understanding of the nature of local government. The political and legal ideas that emerged in the Russian Empire and for the most part fit into the state paradigm are considered. An alternative to this imperial thought is the ideas of Ukrainian scientists and public figures who insisted on the most ancient right of citizens, which belongs to the territorial community, by virtue of its nature, and not the gifted state. Also, an attempt was made to identify the existing model of self-government in Ukraine. The phenomenon of the self-government of society arises in the pre-state period of human history and continues to develop in the conditions of the existence of the state. Under the conditions of the arisen confrontation, national ones are being created, which are due to the historical development of the model of coexistence of the state and local self-government.