The problem of collective subjectivity in local government, or Once again about the purpose and difficulties of applying the category of municipal entity

Abstract

The subject. The crisis of local self-government forces us to turn to the core of the modern concept of local self-government – its collective subjectivity. The remaining deep discrepancies regarding the purpose of this setting and the method of its legislative support are one of the reasons for the current crisis of local self-government, which has turned out to be unable to resist the administrativization of local power. Municipal power is too far from being the power of the collective.

The author’s goal is studying of the problem of legal support for the collective subjectivity of local self-government. It requires investigation of two questions: the most preferable social term for the law; the most adequate method(s) of legal provision of such subjectivity. Main results and conclusions. Analysis of the content of the terms population, territorial collective, and local community allows us to draw a conclusion that the latter is optimal. “Local community” is a community localized on a territorial basis for the purpose of solving problems of livelihoods through democratic action. The existing two-level scheme of subjects of law does not properly ensure the subjectivity of the local community, but carries serious risks of ideologization. The article demonstrates the advantages of the category of municipality – a subject of law that embodies the subjectivity of the local community.