The Features of the Democratic Nature of Local Self-Government in the Public Administration System

Abstract

Georgian society, as in the early 1990s, faces the problem of political modernization again, in the framework of which it is necessary to work with the institutions, structures and practices that were formed during the thirty-year modernization transformations after the collapse of the Soviet socio-political order. The analysis of the relationship between the elements of state and public in the structure of local government, the functional purpose of local self-government and also the establishment of the primary subject of socio-political relations at the local level allows us to conclude that the essence of local self-government consists in defining it as a public institution of society functioning as the mechanism of self-organization and coordination, the satisfaction of interests and needs of citizens united in a local community. The weak local self-government, which has not taken its rightful place in the system of public authority, cannot play the role of a deterrent for statist and authoritarian tendencies. In this regard, it is extremely important to consider local self- government as a political institution embedded in the general system of political structures, relations and interrelationships. The transformation of the political system takes place controversially, in the struggle between liberal-democratic and statist tendencies, which cannot but affect the course of changes in local self- government. The protracted process of reforming local self-government is, on the one hand, the evidence of the ambiguity of the political elite's ideas about the place and role of this institution in public life, and on the other hand, it speaks of the difficulties of establishing a democratic political system in our country. Thus, it can be noted that the feature of local self-government is reflected in the dual nature of this institution. On the one hand, this is a certain level of public authorities, on the other hand, it is the self-organization of the local community, which has developed and is developing within the municipality for independent and on its own responsibility to implement their own initiatives directly in matters of local importance. This duality means that the effectiveness of the functioning of local self- government depends both on the activities of civil society structures, public associations, parties, other public organizations operating at the local level in the local community and on the support from the state. Thus, the relevance of the research topic, firstly, lies in the further theoretical development of local self-government as a social institution, the transformation of the specifics of its development in Georgian society; Secondly, the necessity of determination of the regional and social consequences of local government reform; Thirdly, the disclosure of ways to optimize the interaction of municipal government with the population. In spite of the constant search for their own path, the development of public administration at various stages in Georgia was associated with both the progressive experience of other states and the adaptation of local conditions. This explains the particular attention in recent years to the reform of the institution of local self- government. The object of the research is the reform of local government. The process of forming a system of local government in the context of the modernization of Georgian society. The purpose of the research is to determine the degree of effectiveness of the system performance of local government reform in Georgia and the main directions for its further improvement. I consider that empirical studies will lead to the identification of the problems that directly affect the result of transformations, namely: • is there an excessive centralization of reform management functions at the substantive level; • is there a fragmented participation of civil society actors; • what is the approach of the leading structures of the root link to the effective solution of socio-economic issues of local importance (due to insufficient resource provision and the lack of appropriate qualified personnel); • what are the mechanisms for formulating public interest, which is associated not only with mental factors but also with difficult and complex problems of relations between local government and the population (presumably the low quality of municipal services, the insufficient disclosure of information about governance structures, such dysfunctional identifications in their activities, such as clannism, nepotism, corruption).