The thesis is a comprehensive summary study that thoroughly and impartially analyzes nation-building activity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fourth convocation, defines its role in the development of Ukrainian parliamentarism. The peculiarities of the electoral legislation and its impact on the election campaign in 2002 have been discovered, the results of the elections and the party, regional and social composition of the newly elected Parliament have been shown. Party factions and groups of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fourth convocation have been characterized, the process of regrouping of political forces throughout the duration of the Parliament has been traced.The role and activities of the Parliament in the development and adoption of key provisions of the constitutional reform and changes to the Constitution of Ukraine in 1996. It has been proved that the cause of mainstreaming issues of constitutional reforming in the Parliament were the initiative of President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma on the need for political reform and presidential elections of 2004. During the work of the Parliament a number of laws have been adopted that made significant adjustments to many provisions of constitutional law. The most important were the changes made to the Constitution of Ukraine by the Law "On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine" of December 8, 2004. These legislative acts initiated the beginning of large-scale social and political transformation in the country, including the transition to a parliamentary-presidential form of government, the formation of personal composition of the Verkhovna Rada on the basis of proportional electoral system.The legislative activity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fourth convocation in the state construction domain has been considered. Among the more than 5'000 bills registered in the Verkhovna Rada, nearly 500 concerned with state construction areas and constitutional law, or approximately 10% of brought-in ones. Altogether, for the fourth convocation, almost twice more laws have been adopted in these areas than during the previous convocation. Thus, of 74 adopted bills - one in four refers to primary laws or is their new edition; the others are laws amendments, including ones to the Constitution of Ukraine.The basic forms of the international activity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fourth convocation have been elucidated; ratification, law-making, oversight, budgetary and regulatory, representative functions of the Ukrainian parliament in international relations and its role in the development of international cooperation have been defined. It has been proved that one of the key factors that influenced the legislative activity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fourth convocation in foreign policy were the international legal obligations assumed by the country. In particular, those were the adherence to multilateral international treaties and conventions, acts of the UN and Council of Europe, and most importantly - the European choice, the ultimate goal of which is to achieve the country's full membership in the European Union. During the fourth parliamentary term, the first time in the parliamentary history, the Committee for European Integration have been created by the act of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of June 7, 2002. That the Parliament of the fourth convocation began the process of harmonization of national legislation with EU legislation.The inter-parliamentary cooperation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fourth convocation and its role in the European integration of Ukraine have been considered; the main forms of inter-parliamentary cooperation with the parliaments of individual countries and international parliamentary organizations - the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and others - have been described. Particular attention of the MPs was paid to the development of inter-parliamentary diplomacy, establishing relations with the higher legislative bodies of other countries. The inter-parliamentary cooperation was carried out on a bilateral and multilateral basis. Its main forms were the following: bilateral exchange of parliamentary delegations; participation in bilateral Parliamentary Assemblies (forums, commissions); formation of permanent delegations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in international inter-parliamentary organizations; activities of parliamentary friendship groups; exchange of the apparatus employees by the delegations. The inter-parliamentary cooperation was carried out on a bilateral and multilateral basis. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was represented in almost all European regional and sub-regional assemblies.
