Territorial self-government in Russia as a national model of public participation in the exercise of public authority

Abstract

Territorial self-government (TSG) is one of those institutions of Russian law that emerged in the process of transformation of socialist state law into contemporary constitutional and municipal law. However, it was not accepted by the national laws of a significant part of the former USSR states-republics, which used other forms of institutionalization of local communities. The legal nature of TSG is still a subject of controversy in Russian legal science. This article proposes a new approach to the description of legally significant properties of TSG in Russia through their comparison with similar or related institutions of other national legal systems: territorial self-government, public councils in municipalities, other national models of TSG (Republic of Belarus). This helped to distinguish between generic and specific characteristics of TSG and to draw a reasonable conclusion about the national (specific) features of TSG in Russia. The author pays special attention to differentiating the properties of public and citizens’ power, forms of direct democracy and forms of public participation. The author suggests possible ways of TSG development in Russia and the corresponding directions for improving legislation that correlate with the legal nature of TSG and its features, in particular, determining the procedure for TSG participation in the development and implementation of municipal strategic planning documents.