The thesis is devoted to the analysis of legal basis of organization and activity of parliamentary institutions of the Habsburg Empire and definition of specificity, regularities, tendencies and consequences of influence of their activity on transformation and politicization of the Ukrainian national movement of Galicia in the XIX – early XX centuries. The research systematizes and analyzes the main scientific approaches to the disclosure of the activities of representative authorities in the Habsburg Empire, the impact of their activities on the Ukrainian national movement. Methodological approaches to the study of the system of Austrian parliamentarism and the Ukrainian national movement are specified. An analysis of the legal argumentation used by the Habsburg Empire during the annexation of Galicia is given. It was stated that this incorporation process had positive consequences for the Ukrainian national and political movement, as it coincided with the period of reforms having features of enlightened absolutism, which marked the beginning of the introduction of social and political rights and freedoms.The basic principles and specifics of the implementation of the Austrian legal system in Galicia and its transformation in the middle – second half of the XIX century in terms of the introduction of the constitutional order are traced. It is stated that in practice artificial conditions of Polish political domination in the region were formed, because all governors, heads of sections of the Regional Council, during the second half of the XIX – early XX centuries were Poles. The main socio-political currents of Galicia of the XIX – early XX centuries are characterized, their political convictions, stages of organizational and party formation are determined. The legal basis of the organization and activity of the parliamentary institutions in Galicia are concretized – the estate and regional Sejm, the imperial parliament, the norms of the election legislation. In the case of the Galician Sejm, the main regulatory documents were the October Patent of 1860, which provided for the creation of the Sejm, and the February Patent of 1861, and two annexes to it, the National Statute and the Sejm Electoral Ordinance. The most imperfect of this list were the rules of suffrage, which introduced a curial system based on social and property qualifications. The sphere of powers of the Galician Sejm and the degree of involvement of the Ukrainian Sejm representation in normative activity are determined. An assessment of the normative activity of the Galician Sejm in the field of regulation of economic, administrative and financial issues, regulation of regional culture, education and language is given. The degree and consequences of the influence of the parliamentary institutions of the Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) Empire on Ukrainian-Polish political relations are established, the dynamics of the realization of the «Ukrainian question» in the political system of the Habsburg Empire is traced. The imperial government officially leveled the «national question», but in practice used it as a means of political stability in the region, a way to counter centrifugal, federalist tendencies. The process of factional organization of the Ukrainian Sejm and parliamentary representation of the second half of the XIX – beginning of the XX century is revealed and the degree of its influence on the national movement is determined. The functioning of the Ukrainian Sejm faction is seen as a measure of the political and legal maturity of Ukrainian deputies, who organically and independently approached the need for such an association, which demonstrated efficiency and was a prerequisite for the creation of political organizations and parties. The place of the imperial parliament and the regional sejm in the process of politicization of the Ukrainian national movement of Galicia, its party organization was determined. The formation and activation of Ukrainian political parties in Galicia contributed to the emergence of the national idea beyond the purely intellectual environment and penetration into society. The degree of influence of the system of parliamentarism on the legal consciousness and legal culture of the population of Galicia of the researched period is revealed. The proposals for the use of historical and legal experience in the implementation of the system of parliamentarism of the period under study in order to improve the representative bodies of power in modern Ukraine are formulated.
