Bureaucracy as a factor in the functioning of the regional elite: challenges of civic and political representation

Abstract

The article considers the dependence of political representation at the regional level on the specific configuration of the national political and legal field. The full value and normativeness of public representation are substantiated, as well as the contradictions of the interests of regional political elites and bureaucratic power practices are outlined.The purpose of this article is to clarify the importance of bureaucracy as a factor in the functioning of the regional elite against the background of the challenges of socio-political representation.Research methods. A descriptive method was used to describe the implementation of autonomous government by citizens and to resolve their issues based on the activities of local governments; the method of comparison is used to reflect the composition of regional political elites of European countries and the specifics of the mechanisms of representation at the parliamentary local and regional levels; a method of generalization to demonstrate challenges for elites in the sense of an adequate understanding of their importance and role in political processes at the national and international levels.Results. The assessment of the distribution of powers and the tendencies of influencing the situation in regional communities and territorial units are characteristic only for the countries that are going through a period of democratic transformations and for sustainable democracies. It has been proven that if the bureaucracy is the main actor in the implementation of technical management decisions, the elites can only be coordinators in setting priorities and differences on certain aspects of decision-making at the macro level. Emphasis is placed on the implementation of democratic reform programs, which provide for the representation of the people at all levels of administrative-territorial division. The properties of the elites elected by the citizens, which act only as a temporary component of the general system of decision-making and their implementation, are revealed. It is not possible to represent all, without exception, local communities at the regional level, due to the diversity of their economic and socio-infrastructural potential. An interpretation of the essence of the mechanisms of real democratic political leadership is proposed, which would ensure the support of the population of regional elites as factors of real representation of communities.