Krutko A. Popular legislative initiative: the theoretical and legal aspect.

The thesis is devoted to general-theoretical research of the popular legislative initiative in the context of a legal form of direct democracy that promotes the development of participatory democracy and also guarantees and increases the level of participation of citizens in the management of public affairs. In the thesis a proper definition of the legal forms of direct democracy has been given, main features of it have been examined, and the classification has been expanded. The place of popular legislative initiative has been determined in the system of democracy. The historical prerequisites for the emergence, as well as the stages of formation, the process of development and regulation of the popular legislative initiative in the provisions of the legislation of foreign countries have been examined. There has been established that the ancient and medieval forms of participation of citizens in lawmaking process had a significant impact on the conception and formation not only of the institution of the popular legislative initiative, but also of forms of the popular initiative in general. This is the reason for the similarity and interconnection of the popular legislative initiative, on the one hand, and the popular referendum and constitutional initiative, the popular veto on the other. The conceptual approaches to understanding the popular legislative initiative have been analyzed, the substance (content), the main features have been defined, the approach to the classification has been expanded, and the proper definition of the concept of "popular legislative initiative" has been proposed. The theoretical and practical aspects of realization of popular legislative initiative in foreign countries have been defined and analyzed in the paper. Based on a comparative legal analysis of the provisions of foreign legislation, by the instrumentality of which the procedure for implementing the popular legislative initiative is regulated, models and their varieties have been identified. The factors that lead to the introduction of the popular legislative initiative in Ukraine have been determined. Each model of the popular legislative initiative has been examined in details and defined from the point of the effectiveness and perspective of the implementation in the legislation of Ukraine. There has been proved that the basis of the national model of the popular legislative initiative may be the parliamentary-referendum model, which is connected with the right of the representative body to bring up to popular vote own alternative draft law to the proposed by the popular legislative initiative. The proposals to amend the Constitution of Ukraine have been developed, as well as the main directions for the development of the legislation of Ukraine on the implementation of the popular legislative initiative. In particular, the analysis of provisions, as well as the practice of exercise of the popular legislative initiative in foreign countries, has allowed identifying and developing so-called "legal restrictions" on the possibility to use it for populist or unconstitutional purposes. There has been also established in the paper that the use of the latest technologies (information and communication technologies) in the implementation and realization of the institution of popular legislative initiative (for example, the establishment (development) of a special Website using which citizens may get information about the legislative initiatives and vote in their support) will facilitate the process of expressing the will of citizens and will contribute to the formation of an information-oriented society.