Political Approach to the Issue of Self-governance Reform in Ukraine under the Presidencies of Kravchuk and Kuchma

• Autorzy: Vadym Zheltovskyy

Warianty tytułu

Reforma samorządu terytorialnego w programach politycznych partii Krawczuka i Kuczmy

• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

There have been numerous declarations to implement democratic reforms in Ukraine since the country's independence in 1991. Despite the fact that important legal acts such as the Law on Local Self-government were adopted by central authorities in Kyiv, the implementation of most democratization aspects has been interrupted by constant political struggle for power among Ukrainian elites. Even though the law mentioned above as well as Ukrainian Constitution adopted in 1996 guaranteed the rights to local self-governance and commitment to decentralization, most of these rights were not fully exercised. As regards the civic participation in the decision-making processes, the de-clared existence of various forms of civic access to governmental decisions (individual and collective proposals, general meetings of the citizens, etc.) did not find reflection in active engagement of citizens into local or regional processes of governance. At the same time, state institutions were often unprepared or unwilling to engage citizens into such processes of solving local problems. That led to further reforming attempts of self-governance system in Ukraine undertaken by consecutive presidents and their allies be it Viktor Yushchenko and his "Orange" team, later Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions, and finally current Post-Maidan authorities under the leadership of Petro Poroshenko. Having taken into consideration the complimentary address by Groysman in reference to Kuchma's reforming steps in the sphere of decentralization and local governance, the article analysis makes it possible to reach the following conclusive remarks: 1) during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma there were created legal grounds for the successful start of decentralization and empowerment of citizens; 2) lack of political will in Kyiv and consequently in regions caused opposite effect of adopted legislation; 3) the influence of post-communist legacy did not let quick changes of civil participation in the governmental processes become a reality. Therefore, it is of vital importance to learn from all three aspects given above in order to transform the Ukrainian state and successfully implement democratic changes in state regions at present. Hopefully, such learning experience as well as new declarations and concepts will be reflected in particular political deeds. (original abstract)

W artykule przedstawiono badania porównawcze dotyczące reformy samorządności w suwerennej Ukrainie ze szczególnym naciskiem na kroki podjęte w kierunku jej realizacji podczas prezydencji pierwszego i drugiego prezydentów Ukrainy, Leonida Kravchuka i Leonida Kuczmy. Analiza uwzględnia akty prawne przyj ę te w latach 1991-2004. Po-nadto zwraca się uwagę na zmiany podejścia politycznego, jak również odzwierciedlenia tych zmian w ukraińskiej konstytucji. Artykuł próbuje odpowiedzieć na pytanie dotyczące wpływu podjętych kroków na rozwój społeczeństwa obywatelskiego i obecnej sytuacji w odniesieniu do samorządności na Ukrainie. (fragment tekstu)

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Self-government administration; Society; Civic society

PL

Administracja samorządowa; Społeczeństwo; Społeczeństwo obywatelskie

• Czasopismo: Społeczeństwo i Polityka
• Rocznik: 2017
• Numer: nr 2(51)
• Strony: 85--95

Twórcy

autor

Vadym Zheltovskyy

• Pultusk Academy of Humanities, Poland

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