Blashchuk O. O. Legal Mechanisms for Interaction between Civil Society and the State in the Context of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic Development. – Qualification scientific work, manuscript.
Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Specialty 081 “Law”. – National University of Ostroh Academy, Ostroh, 2026.
The dissertation substantiates that, in the contemporary legal dimension, civil society cannot be regarded solely as an environment existing outside the state or as a collection of public associations. It constitutes a multilayered socio-legal environment encompassing the self-organisation of individuals and their associations, public communication, representation of interests, participation in public decision-making, and oversight of public authorities. Accordingly, the state is not merely an external recipient of societal demands. Within the framework of good democratic governance, it simultaneously acts as an institutional partner of civil society, creating legal channels for participation, and as an object of public oversight whose decisions, actions and omissions must remain open to scrutiny, explanation, review and legal response.
The purpose of the dissertation is to provide a theoretical and legal substantiation of the mechanisms of interaction between civil society and the state in the context of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic development, to identify deficiencies in their regulatory, institutional and procedural framework, and to formulate an original model of an integrated mechanism for such interaction. To achieve this purpose, the dissertation
examines the concept, characteristics and functions of civil society; determines the legal role of the state as both a partner and an object of oversight; formulates the concept and constituent elements of the legal mechanism of interaction; substantiates the criteria for its assessment through the principles of the rule of law, good democratic governance, transparency and accountability; analyses international and European standards of civic participation; characterises institutional and procedural models of interaction in European practice; identifies Euro-Atlantic benchmarks for harmonisation in Ukraine; assesses the Ukrainian regulatory and institutional framework for interaction; identifies the principal procedural deficiencies, gaps in guarantees and problems of law enforcement; and develops an original model of an integrated legal mechanism.
The scientific novelty of the dissertation lies in the proposed original model of an integrated legal mechanism of interaction between civil society and the state, within which civic participation, transparency, public oversight, a reasoned response by the public authority, legal remedies and subsequent monitoring are combined into a unified procedural cycle.
The dissertation substantiates the distinction between an individual channel of civic participation and a complete legal mechanism of interaction; formulates criteria for the Euro-Atlantic compatibility of such a mechanism; improves the understanding of civil society as a legal partner of the state; clarifies the role of the state as an institutional organiser of participation and, simultaneously, an object of public oversight; and further develops the understanding of transparency and accountability as legal conditions for effective interaction.
The results obtained confirm that Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic development requires neither declarative public involvement nor the mechanical borrowing of individual procedures, but the functional harmonisation of the mechanism of interaction between civil society and the state. Such harmonisation must ensure a legally traceable pathway for a public position, a reasoned response by the public authority, an accountable institutional reaction, the possibility of oversight and review, and the correction of procedural deficiencies.
In this sense, interaction between civil society and the state is not an auxiliary element of public administration but a necessary condition for democratic resilience, the rule of law, public trust in public authorities, and the effective Euro-Atlantic development of Ukraine.
Keywords: civil society, state, legal mechanism, Euro-Atlantic development, participation, public oversight, transparency, accountability, rule of law, good governance, local self-government, judicial protection, legal guarantees, harmonisation of legislation, European standards, public authorities, rule-of-law state.
