Tarasenko T. Political responsibility in local self-government of Ukraine: the public-administrative aspect

The research substantiates the theoretical and methodological principles of ensuring political responsibility in local self-government in Ukraine, at which point the practical recommendations for its development based on the improvement of public administration relations have been elaborated. Scientific interdisciplinary approaches to the consideration of political responsibility and the specifics of reviewing it in the field of public administration have been analyzed. The peculiarities of defining the political responsibility institute in local self-government have been revealed on the basis of taking into account its institutional, functional and process characteristics. The concept of «political responsibility in local self-government» is determined as a set of obligations that are defined by the representative nature of functions and powers of local self-government bodies to the community, their capabilities and ability to manage public affairs on behalf and for the benefit of the local population relying on relevant legal norms guaranteed by the State, and the moral principles of society. The foreign experience of implementing political responsibility in local self-government has been generalized, and the conclusion has been confirmed as to the fact that the peculiarity of its construction is conditioned by a model of local self-government, which is reflected particularly in means of its provision, taking into account the role of the local population in procedures for reporting, and revocation of bodies and elective officers of local self-government. The problem of distinguishing political responsibility from constitutional and criminal responsibility has been studied in order to clarify its public administration content. The historical experience of development of the political responsibility institute in local self-government of Ukraine has been highlighted, and the weakness of this institute has been discovered in ensuring the assessment of governmental actions in terms of the democratic development of social and governmental relations, which is conditioned by insufficient effectiveness of law and the political content in providing the balance of interests between the political administrative system and citizens. Influence of the process of forming the constitutional and legal foundations of local self-government on the entrenchment of political responsibility in Ukraine has been covered. The modern practice to ensure political responsibility of local councils and a head of village, settlement and city councils in Ukraine has been studied. Measures have been proposed to improve the organizational and legal forms of implementing the principle of accountability and controllability of local self-government bodies to the territorial community on the basis of: improving procedures for the early termination of powers of local self-government elective officers and accountability of a village, settlement and city mayor; changing the approach to a local council deputy’s exercise of powers in regards to the performance of voters’ instructions; raising requirements to responsibility of political parties, and their local units in the resolution of issues of local importance through strengthening the positive effect of “party localization”; ensuring the controlling function of political responsibility on the grounds of public control. Enhancing the political responsibility institute is disclosed through the prism of implementing the principles of proper democratic governance at the local level and establishing the responsible management as a characteristic of effective functioning of the local self-government system. Prospects to develop political responsibility in Ukraine have been substantiated on the basis of disclosure of: the concept of «responsibility» at the level of modern general European approches to the organization of local self-government; discretionary powers of local self-government bodies, as well as methods to identify and correct discretionary risks in the regulation of requirements to accountability of local self-government bodies and officials; approaches to forming the institutional behavior of local self-government elective officers. The assessment of political responsibility is based on the criterion of «social effects and consequences of results of local self-government bodies’ business».