FUNCTIONING OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS DURING MARTIAL LAW

Abstract

The war changed all the rules and norms, posed new challenges and provoked a number of crises that seriously complicate the functioning of the state. And last but not least, this applies to local governments, which are responsible for meeting the needs of the community. However, when martial law was imposed in Ukraine in the first hours of the large-scale war and the lives of all Ukrainians changed at the same time, decentralization of power and experience in overcoming crises during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed state and self-government institutions to remain high. After the enemy’s invasion, the Decree of the President of Ukraine was issued to establish defense councils at the regional and Kyiv city state administrations, as well as local governments. The priority was to provide maximum support and assistance to the military command in the introduction and implementation of measures of martial law. Local self-government in Ukraine has demonstrated a significant level of efficiency in operating under martial law. If a number of complex problems need to be solved at the same time, the effectiveness of interaction between public authorities, local community leaders and representatives of public and volunteer organizations remains high, which avoids sharp crises in the process of ensuring the livelihood of communities. At the same time, active work is still underway to improve the regulatory framework governing local self-government. municipality. Positive practice was the support of local governments of public initiatives, projects, cooperation with volunteers, international and non-governmental organizations that are designed to solve community problems. This once again demonstrates that local self-government is an important element that supports the functioning of the state as a whole. The experience gained by Ukraine during the war clearly illustrated a number of advantages of stimulating the self-organization of the population over the centralization of government.