THE PROCESSES OF TRANSFORMATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND DECENTRALIZATION OF POWER: MECHANISMS OF INTERRELATIONS

Abstract

It is confirmed that local self-government is an independent system of organizing the activities of the local community (local residents) in a certain area, which is a set of various bodies and institutions that function as a single, integrated mechanism, where the local community is its leading link. Such a system functions as a set of organizational forms and institutions of direct self-government, through which the principles and functions of local self-government are implemented. It is concluded that a democratic society is a society where power is delegated to elites and is exercised as violence against the majority and the minority. Of course, this is better than the power of one person. But we strive to move from democracy to civil society, where everyone should be heard. It is noted that at present the problem of the relationship between civil society and government is purely practical, caused by the fact that the formation of civil society is in a rather tense confrontation with the state, which has an extremely ambiguous and internally contradictory socio-political, ideological and legal configuration. In this situation, the hopes of some researchers that the state will take care of the development of civil society do not correspond to the real state of affairs. It is emphasized in the article that the difficulties of formation and development of civil society are not only the activity of the state, the desire of the ruling elites to strengthen their positions in society and even exceed their own powers. A serious danger to the formation and existence of civil society is the activity of various corporate and bureaucratic structures within the state, invariably lowering the activity status of citizens. Important tasks for the formation of a democratic state governed by the rule of law and civil society in Ukraine are the preservation of civil harmony and the organization of proper implementation and application of laws, opportunities for law enforcement, in the full implementation of their social functions. At the same time, a serious problem remains that Ukrainians in general still underestimate the effectiveness of civil society institutions (which can be judged by the level of citizens' trust in them and participation in their activities) and do not sufficiently imagine the possibilities of their actual application. The number of those who do not trust public organizations has long exceeded the number of those who trust them.