Abstracts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN UKRAINE – FORMATION, MAIN PRINCIPLES, ACTUAL STATE POLICY AND LEGAL REGULATION

Viacheslav OLESHCHENKO

PhD Geography, MD Law, Associate Professor, and Senior Research Scientist. Acting President of the Ukrainian Geographical Society. Koretsky Institute of State and Law. National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine.

Existing principles and regulation concerning Local Government in Ukraine was formed on the base of a long way in discussions and step by step transformation from the strongly united, hierarchic administrative system into the modern democratic system of public power, with relevant balance and legal guarantees for relevant independence and mutual responsibility of state power at national and regional levels and local self-government. Main political principles and legal base for such system in modern time were established by Declaration of the State Sovereignty of Ukraine (16 July, 1990) and Act of Independence Declaration of Ukraine (24 August 1991, approved by the national referendum on 1 December 1991), and later – by Constitution Agreement between the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine on the basic principles of organization and functioning of state power and local self-government in Ukraine for the period until the adoption of the new Constitution of Ukraine. Acting Constitution of Ukraine was adopted by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 28 June 1996. On its base special laws concerning Local Self-Government in Ukraine (21 May, 1997), Local State Administrations (9 April, 1999), Supporting of Regions Development (8 September 2005), some other acts were adopted. Concept of the state regional policy was adopted by President of Ukraine Degree (25 May, 2001). Later Law of Ukraine on the principles of state regional policy was adopted by Parliament (5 February, 2015). Substantial changes in territorial organization of power were realized in Ukraine in 2014-2020 mostly in case of its decentralization. General explanation of formation, further development, actual principles of state policy, concerning structure of institutions and legal regulation in this sphere will be a subject of this presentation.

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TRANSFORMATION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE-TERRITORIAL SYSTEM FOR EFFECTIVE DECENTRALIZATION OF POWER AND LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN UKRAINE

Pavlo OSTAPENKO

PhD Geography. Independent adviser of the State Authorities of Ukraine. Expert of international projects. Chairman of the Ukraine Researchers Society, Ukraine.

Considering European and global experience, on the base of some amendments to the Constitution and relevant laws, Government of Ukraine in 2014 approved the Concept of reforming local self-government and territorial organization of government. This Concept mostly aimed to decentralizing of power, increasing the role and capacity of local self-government for better establishment of democratization at the local level. Such transfer of power to the level of primary units of local self-government is accompanied with establishment of additional guarantees of independence of these bodies in their decisions of local importance issues, in the implementation of their own and delegated by the state powers. In the same time a significant increasing of financial opportunities of territorial hromada was reached. Such changes formed a new reasons and purposes for the appropriate changes in the system of administrative-territorial structure at the local and sub-regional (districts) level. During the implementation of reforms, the number of administrative-territorial units at the local and sub-regional level has already been significantly reduced. This situation led to the transformation of different socially important processes, formation of new tasks, in particular, in the field of ensuring the proper organization of the provision of administrative, medical and other social services, in development of transport and other infrastructure, optimization of the system of spatial planning etc. It is supposed to familiarize the participants with the main results of the ongoing reforms in this area and with prospects for further action of the Government of Ukraine and other authorities, with the experience of participation of geographers in the development and implementation of scientific principles of the relevant activities.

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UKRANIAN SUBNATIONAL GOVERNANCE & FINANCE REFORM: 2014-2018 AND BEYOND

Tony LEVITAS

Senior Fellow, The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, USA. Intergovernmental Finance Expert, Support to Decentralization Project, Swedish International Development Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine.

In the aftermath of the Maidan Revolution and Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the Ukrainian state rather remarkably decentralized state power to a newly comprehensive and much strengthened municipal sector. This process was neither easy. Nor was it fully complete when Russia launched its second more vicious and existential attack on the country. In this talk, I review the strengths and weaknesses of the financial architecture of Ukraine’s new system of intergovernmental relations, as well as the most important risks the war poses for the evolution of this architecture. Most importantly, I discuss the pressing need for the Ukrainian state to develop the information systems necessary to identify where its citizens are, and to link their personal income tax payments –the largest source of municipal revenue-- to their place of residence. Without these systems, I argue, the national government will have difficulty stabilizing municipal finances, rationally allocating public revenues for resettlement and reconstruction, and exploiting the full promise of the country’s local governments in building back better.

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6 June, 13:45 - 15:15 GMT

FOUR GEOPOLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF UKRAINE’S DECENTRALIZATION: HOW KYIV’S CURRENT LOCAL GOVERNANCE REFORM AFFECTS POST-SOVIET INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Andreas UMLAND

PhD (Cambridge), Analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, and Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Sweden / Ukraine.

Abstract: The Ukrainian local governance reform's Europeanizing, anti-separatist and diffusion potential makes it an especially salient, interesting and consequential aspect of Ukraine’s ongoing socio-political transformation. Within the context of some specifically post-Soviet political challenges, the empire-subverting and state-supporting dimension of decentralization bestow this particular reform with a larger meaning than other substantively similar processes of devolution of power from the national and regional to the municipal and local levels have in other parts of the world. When local communities – whether within an urban, rural or mixed context – take over major political tasks and public funds, both imperialism and separatism lose their allure. Decentralization can, moreover, help to contain radical nationalism and to facilitate European integration. Studying more deeply the concepts, elements and experiences of the current Ukrainian reset of local self-governance may reveal useful ideas and lessons for administrative reform advocates in other post-Soviet countries and beyond.

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EFFECTS OF THE UKRAINIAN DECENTRALISATION REFORM ON SOCIAL COHESION IN UKRAINE'S BORDER REGIONS

Aadne AASLAND & Oleksandra DEINEKO

Senior Researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR) at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.

Abstract: Ukraine's decentralisation reform which was launched in 2015 has given more power and resources to the municipalities (hromadas). A main feature of the reform has been the amalgamation of small local communities into larger and more viable territorial units. This has, among other things, implied a mix of populations formerly living in smaller, more homogeneous local communities. Based on case studies in two border regions (Kharkiv and Chernivtsi) we have investigated whether issues of social cohesion, including ethno-cultural aspects, have been on the agenda when these new amalgamated territorial communities (ATCs) have been formed, and the effects of the reform on social cohesion, including relations between ethno-cultural groups, in these new entities. Implications for the local responses to the Russian invasion will also be discussed.

Aadne AASLAND has been involved in projects on local government reform and local democracy in Ukraine since 2008 and from 2018 - 2021 was the leader of the international ARDU project: The Accommodation of Regional Diversity in Ukraine.

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THE RUSSIAN WAR AND NEW APPROACHES FOR THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORIES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN UKRAINE

Anatoliy MELNYCHUK

PhD Geography, Associate Professor. Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Faculty of Geography, Head of the Expert-Advisory Center for the Development of Communities and Territories, Ukraine.

Huge territories, a lot of state, municipal and private property in all regions of the country have been hit, including housing, public buildings, large energy and industrial facilities, infrastructure, cultural objects, historical places, landscapes, natural reserves, other specially protected territories (a lot of them are under special protection by international agreements and Russian Federation is a party of the most of them). Millions of people have left their homes, become refugees, and found temporary refuge in other regions of Ukraine and abroad. Such genocide and ecocide was never before in Europe since World War II. In such situation formation of the scientific, institutional, financial, legal, information and other conditions for a state policy of territorial development and rapid, large-scale renovation and reconstruction of the country became extremely actual. Using geographic information systems and other modern information technology, in cooperation with relevant state authorities, local self-government authorities we are working now for formation of reliable and complete data concerning location, types and depth of damage, for restitution of damages, for reliable planning of reconstruction and development of state programs. Our results and experience will be a subject of this presentation.

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UKRAINE'S DECENTRALISATION IN TIMES OF WAR:

CONTRIBUTION TO DEFENCE AND LEGITIMACY

Valentyna ROMANOVA

PhD (University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), member of the Japan Association of Ukrainian Studies and the COST Network Intergovernmental Coordination from Local to European Governance, Japan.

Abstract: The presentation examines the contribution of Ukraine’s decentralisation reform to defence and legitimacy since the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale military invasion. First, it presents the context: the major deliverables of the post-2014 decentralisation reform in Ukraine. Second, the presentation explains the input of Ukraine’s sub-state authorities into the multi-level system of national resilience, in line with the 2021 law on national resilience and on the ground. This input refers to territorial defence units and volunteer (paramilitary) formations in amalgamated territorial communities. Third, the presentation clarifies vertical and horizontal intergovernmental relations between the state and self-government in those municipalities that were occupied (the city of Kherson); surrounded by the invaders (the city of Chernihiv); under attack by the Russian military (the city of Dnipro). Finally, the presentation specifies how domestic sub-state authorities help enhancing legitimacy of power when Ukraine is under military attack and why it matters during the military invasion.

6 June, 15:30 - 16:00 GMT

MODERN SPATIAL PLANNING INSTRUMENTS FOR INTEGRATION OF LOCAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL AIMS AND INTERESTS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND EURO INTEGRATION OF UKRAINE

Yuriy PALEKHA

Dr. Sc. Geography, Professor. Deputy-Director on Research of the Ukrainian State Juriy Bilokon Research and Planning Institute 'DIPROMISTO', Ukraine.

According to the National Law “On Regulation of Urban Development” and other acts there are 3 hierarchical levels of spatial planning documentation in Ukraine: national (General scheme of planning of the territory of state); regional (regional and district planning schemes) and local (general plans of settlements, detailed plans of territories, complex plans of spatial development of territorial communities). This system, different procedures, formed in Ukraine on the base of the best national and international practice, allows to ensure formation of common positions and relevant integration of aims and interests at national, regional and local levels, both horizontally and vertically. Actively developed cross-border urban planning projects with Poland, Slovakia and Hungary play an important role for successful integration of Ukraine into the European space. Here we can draw attention to the experience of DIPROMISTO in developing of such projects, formation of common methodology for research and design of cross-border space.

Modern development of spatial planning in Ukraine base on the principles, laid down from the Sustainable Development Strategy of the European Union, documents and decisions of the CEMAT conferences.

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SPATIAL PLANNING AND GIS TECHNOLOGIES FOR INCREASING DEVELOPMENT CAPACITY OF LOCAL TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES IN UKRAINE

Anastasiia OLESHCHENKO

PhD Geography. Creative Manager and Coordinator of Spatial Planning Branch in the Geospatial Solutions Agency “AGEORA”. USAID local expert, Ukraine.

The decentralization processes that have been taking place in Ukraine since 2014 have created conditions for the spatial extension of the powers of local authorities forming an entity of territorial community, named Territorial Hromada. Ensuring effective management of the development of Hromadas’ territories required changes to the spatial planning documentation system used in Ukraine. As a result, a fundamentally new type of spatial planning documentation was established, both in terms of content and methodology – a Complex plan of spatial development of the territory of the Territorial Hromada. The legislative changes have affected not only the content of the documentation, but also the procedures for its development, implementing the latest European approaches in the field of spatial planning. The report will acquaint with the experience gained by our team with support of USAID and other international support programs through implementing a new type of documentation in practice in specific Hromadas of different regions of Ukraine, as well as the use of geographic information systems for supporting efficient decision-making by local authorities on asset management taking into account the spatial context. There is a significant increase in the interest of local authorities in the use of GIS in connection with the spatial expansion of their powers.