Vinnik N. V. Problems of Territorial Organization of Local Government in Russia

Abstract: The combination of the social relations with respect to the territorial organization of local government (establishments of borders between municipal entities, transformation of municipal entities). The author researches the questions of adequate territorial organization of local government in the Russian Federation and the legal formalization of the territorial organization taking into consideration the existing historical experience of the development of the state and the needs of modern life. The problems of territorial organization of local government is examined using the example of the territorial organization of Khabarovsk region. The author studies the tendencies towards making larger municipal entities and the gaps in law. The author proposes ways to bridge such gaps. Dialectic research method, historical method, analytical, deduction and induction methods, and the statistical research method. To resolve the issues related to the territorial organization of local government, it is necessary to adopt a federal law on the general principles of territorial organization of local government. This law should establish the general legal principles of the status, types and procedure for the creation, abolishment of administrative entities – rural and urban localities, town, regions and other units, give a general definition of urban and rural areas, provide the criteria for classifying territories according to the density of their population (high, medium, low), identify the general method for classifying localities as remote or difficult to reach. In the Federal Law ‘On General Principles of Territorial Organization of Local Government in the Russian Federation’, it is necessary to define the notion of the borders of municipal entities, the procedure of their description an delineation because the borders are currently of economic nature and their exact location will affect the flow of funds to the local budget. Also, it is necessary to define more detailed criteria for assigning the status of an urban district to the urban locality. It appears that these criteria should be based on a certain population, take into account walking and transport accessibility for the inhabitant of the localities which may be included in the urban district, at what distance city localities may be. The existing legal regulation results in the fact that certain urban districts include many localities and repeat the territorial organization of municipal districts thus depriving the population of the villages and settlements of the opportunity to exercise the guaranteed right to local government.

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