CC BY
26
Section 3. Political science
https://doi.org/10.29013/ESR-21-1.2-14-19
ibadov Nazim, PhD in Philosophy, associate professor, the Faculty of International relations and economy
Baku State University E-mail: [email protected] Mammadli Nuran, PhD student, teacher the Faculty of International relations and economy
Baku State University E-mail: [email protected]
INTERNATiONAL EXPERiENCE iN THE FiELD OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT: REALiTiES AND PERSPECTiVES
Abstract. The article refers to international experience in the field of local self-government, various models in this field have been studied and their specific features have been shown. The article also examines the activities of municipalities as a form of local self-government in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Keywords: local self-government - activities related to the solution of issues of local importance: municipalities, neighborhood committees, associations, utilities.
Statement of the problem. Formation of a dem- on many factors, at the same time political regime,
ocratic, legal state characterized by the establishment organization and, management of the dominant
of civil society being a form of a democratic state power in the country, state structure, administrative-
structure in itself, ensuring the close participation regional division of the state, national traditions. In
of citizens in the management of society, as well as most modern countries, all local affairs are managed
creating conditions for meeting the socio-economic by special local government bodies established based
and cultural needs of the population, thus helping to on general, equal and, direct voting rights, as well as
ensure the rights and freedoms of people and citi- specially appointed local government bodies from
zens require the formation of a system of local self- the center through a secret ballot. Local or munici-
government. Local self-government is the beginning pal autonomy means a local problem management
of a free, democratic society. system run by specially elected bodies that directly
Local self-government is an essential feature of represent the population of a particular adminis-
any modern democratic society. Differences in the trative-regional unit of the country. The European
formation of local self-government systems depend Charter of Local Self-Government, adopted by the
Council of Europe on 15 October 1985 and serving as the main legal basis for self-government for all European States, provides a general definition for local self-government that is almost universal and accepted by all democracies. According to the Charter, local self-government means "the right and genuine ability of local self-government bodies to regulate the majority of public affairs and act within the law and take responsibility in the interests of local people."
The purpose of the article: Establishment of local self-government bodies in the Republic of Azerbaijan by referring to the international experience in the field of local self-government and to review their areas of activity
Material analysis: Nowadays, the most important features of local self-government systems in foreign countries are their universal choice and considerable freedom in resolving local issues. This freedom includes municipal property, the right to collect and dispose of local taxes, the ability to adopt regulations on local government, and so on. Local self-government bodies are given the right to elect local self-government bodies and adopt normative legal acts, financial autonomy, independence in conducting personnel policy and, communal planning. Such principles reflect the most characteristic features of the system of local self-government in European countries. At the same time, the European system of local self-government has significantly influenced the formation and functioning of local self-government in other regions. Various models and types of organization of local self-government are shown in foreign municipal law. Several main models (systems) of local self-government known in the world practice: - Anglo-Saxon system; Continental (French system); German (mixed) can be considered.
The Anglo-Saxon system is mainly used in countries with the same legal system, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, and so on. In the states that follow this model, the relationship between the central gov-
ernment and local self-government is determined by the principle of "inter vires" («inter vires»), so local self-government bodies. Other activities are considered abuse of power and are considered illegal by the court. This model does not provide for the presence of any official appointed to local self-government bodies for centralized control [6, 34-38]. Local councils resolve issues that are not within the competence of the central authorites, independently and within their responsibility, within the framework of law, tradition (gained experience), judical precedent.
The continental local self-government model differs significantly from the Anglo-Saxon model. This model is common not only in continental European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Belgium) but also in Latin America, the Middle East, and French-speaking African countries. For France, the founder of the continental model, the high degree of centralization of local self-government has been traditional throughout history. For a long time, France had a system of multi-level local government and here the activities of the lower echelons had significantly depended on the higher governing bodies (primarily in the administrative and financial sense). At present, the main stage of local self-government in France is the communes, which are municipalities created by residents of small towns and rural settlements [7, 99-100]. Each commune has its own representative body, the council, and a mayor, who is elected among the deputies of the council, as well as a civil servant and head of the local self-government. The mayor and deputies of the municipal council, acting permanently, form the municipality. Its activity is carried out under the control of the municipal council and the administrative control of the republican commissioner. It monitors the legality of the decisions taken by the second committee and, if necessary, applies to the court to annul them.
In addition to the mentioned models, there are other options for the organization of power in places that have accumulated features to some degree and have their characteristics. Such models include lo-
cal self-government in Germany, Austria, Japan, and several post-socialist and developing countries. These models are called mixed. A distinctive feature of the mixed model is a combination of autonomous local self-government and a higher level of governance at a much lower regional level.
In modern states, local self-government systems are based on the administrative-territorial division of the state. The administrative-territorial division itself of any state is an important part of a state organization. This structure is often very conservative. Even in the context of the adoption of such new constitutions and constitutional laws, which affect other aspects of the organization of the state, it is rarely infringed and does not undergo significant changes.
The administrative-territorial division of the state, as a rule, was formed under the influence of purely geographical factors by taking into account the economic, social, and demographic situation. Changes in these factors, especially in exchange for scientific and technological progress, will undoubtedly affect the restructuring of the administrative-territorial structure of the state, but this is mostly about industrial regions.
The modern system of administrative division in large foreign countries (USA, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, etc.) were established in the XIX century, in the UK these foundations date back to the early feudal period. Therefore, in the system of administrative-territorial division of foreign states, territorial units that are still outdated, small in area, and have lost their economic and sometimes demographic basis for existence may remain. In most cases, the regulatory framework of different areas lags behind socio-economic potential. As before, significant differences remain in the size, population, and economic potential of the administrative-regional units of the same category. The regulation of the administrative-regional structure in unitary states is the jurisdiction of central authorities and federal states - the matters of the federation, but The general principles of the organization of the administrative-
regional department should be based on the principles of the entire federal constitution. The detailed regulation of the local administrative-district section is carried out by special laws. In modern states, the system of local self-government can include two to five vertical levels. The two-tiered (Denmark, Costa Rica, etc.) and three-tiered, India, etc.) structure of the administrative-territorial division was considered the most common and advantageous in terms of local self-government [8, 66-67]. Four-tier and five-tier systems of administrative-territorial division are less common. Local self-government bodies differ in the degree of centralization of their relations with higher authorities. A system of local self-government is based on the principle of subordination of lower bodies to higher bodies (Italy, France, Germany). At the same time, several states support the autonomous system and there is no direct vertical subordination in this system, but it is realized in a very limited way in practice. In the second case, local governments have considerable freedom over higher authorities. In this case, a fairly broad system of electing these bodies has been established. Sometimes the activities of local self-government bodies are under the direct control of special state bodies. In most cases, they are subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior (the UK), in other countries, even a special unit within the government (the Ministry of Local Self-Government) may be established [6, 43-46].
In modern countries, there is a great diversity in the administrative-territorial division that often dictated by historical traditions and economic expediency, and that's why the characteristic of local self-government is the extreme diversity of the organizational forms and direct dependencies of the local conditions (geographical, socio-economic, production, demographic, etc.). In the UK, the district is divided into districts, districts are divided into areas covering both urban and rural areas. In England, the lower divisions are parishes, while in Wales and Scotland they are communities. In all territorialadministrative units, except for small parishes, there
are councils with local government bodies. In small parishes, the functions of local governments are carried out by the assemblies of voters convened periodically by that parish.
The administrative-regional cleavage in the Federal Republic of Germany is determined by the constitutions of the territory. According to land constitutions, territories are divided into districts, districts into circles, and the latter into communities. Districts and communities have their councils, which are elected local governments. In sparsely populated communities, electoral councils are convened periodically to address local governance issues. There are no local governments in the constituencies.
Public administration and local self-government are institutions that are constantly interconnected and interact with each other. This is due to their place in the system of public administration and their role in social development.
The following important issues must be resolved for the mutual development of state and municipal governance. In this case, the solution of two groups of problems is considered: The first group of problems is related to the state's support for the development of local self-government. It envisages the creation of political, normative-legal, organizational, financial-economic, and administrative management conditions that necessary for the implementation of the constitutional principles oflocal self-government. The second group of problems is to ensure the unity oflocal self-government with the system ofstate power, its accountability to the state and the population.
The interaction and cooperation of public authorities and local self-government bodies have been accepted in world practice as one of the principles that facilitate the solution of both groups of problems. This principle envisages the joint action of local self-government bodies in completing the organizing process and creating conditions for them to exercise their constitutional powers.
The historical experience of developed countries shows that the complex issues of systematic transfor-
mation of society and economy to achieve sustainable development of the country are only possible in the presence of an effective system of governance at all levels of government. In this regard, the process of forming a system of local self-government through the implementation of the policy of decentralization of public administration in the Republic ofAzerbai-jan should be considered as one of the most important steps for democracy, rule of law, and civil society.
The main goal of the decentralization policy implemented in Azerbaijan is to democratize the foundations of public administration, create conditions for effective fulfillment of duties at the appropriate government levels while addressing the current and future socio-economic development challenges both. The decentralization of central government and establishment of local government structures are important for political stability, serviceability, poverty reduction, and development and adoption of governance decisions. The drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its adoption by popular vote on November 12, 1995, marked the beginning of the process [1, 78]. Currently, the state sovereignty and independence of Azerbaijan are the transformations of democracy, secularism, and the rule of law through reforms. The main goal of the reforms is to determine the main aspects, ways, and methods of decentralization of public administration, which is one of the conditions for the building of a legal, democratic state in Azerbaijan, and the formation of an effective local self-government system.
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, despite the broad powers of the local self-government bodies, the Law on the Status of the Municipalities adopted on July 2, 1999, considers the activities of the municipalities to be a form of activity within the civil society system. Article 10-11 of this law was amended by the Law ofJuly 9, 2019, which obliges the Ministry ofJustice to organize experience exchange with local self-government bodies, their associations, and specialized agencies of foreign coun-
tries in order to improve the professionalism of municipal members and employees [4, 96-98].
Today a solid legislative framework has been created in the Republic of Azerbaijan for the activities of municipalities. One of the first steps is our country's participation in the European Charter of Local Governments Autonomy. The condition was approved by the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 15, 2002, and submitted to the Council of Europe. The Law of June 21, 2013, adopted by the National Assembly is in line with 19 October 2011 Recommendation from the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Governance, titled "Regards and Declarations on Local Autonomy Requirements of Europe", by joining in paragraph 3 of Article 10 of the European Charter, our country has assumed another obligation and cooperates with other municipalities, joining them, becoming a member of associations and international associations of local self-government bodies, and cooperating legally with other states' local self-government bodies [4, 127-128].
Under the October 19, 2011 recommendation by the Council of Europe Congress ofLocal and Regional Governments, entitled "Regards and Declarations to the European Local Autonomy Charter", the National Assembly took part in Paragraph 1 of the Law of 21 June 2013 adopted by the National Assembly, assuming a different obligation and cooperating with other municipalities, participating in their associations of local self-government Participation in international associations has granted the right of other states to co-operate with local self- government bodies in accordance with the law.
The system of local self-government in Azerbaijan is one-tier and has equal rights and equal powers, regardless of the status of the administrative-territorial unit (village, settlement, district, city), territorial size,
financial potential, and population. There is no subordination between municipalities [5, 112-116]. Their bodies are equally independent, have independent financial resources, carry the same authority, have the right to freely possess and dispose of their property, make independent decisions, and are finally formed as a result ofnationwide elections. The regional and population principle is not required for the establishment of a municipality in our country. The population is only important for the number of municipal assemblies
Municipalities develop and implement local social protection and social development programs, local economic development programs, and environmental programs to address issues oflocal importance.
The development of local democracy and self-government attaches particular importance to cooperation with relevant bodies of the Council of Europe and other international organizations. The interaction with the relevant structures of the Council of Europe in the field of decentralization has been further strengthened. The Azerbaijani delegation has duly represented our country at international events and made recommendations on current issues in accordance with the interests of our country and these proposals have been adopted in many cases [4, 78]. Measures taken to improve local self-government have expanded the capacities of municipalities and created more favorable conditions for their development.
Conclusion. State activity in the field of local self-government should be accomplished through a state policy in the area of local self-government development, with the main objective of securing the future development of local self-government in the country. Soon, successful implementation of state policy in the development of local self-government in Azerbaijan will lead to the formation of a system in which the population, local self-governments, and the government interact.
References:
1. Law on the status of municipalities of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 2 July, 1999.
2. European Charter of Local Self-Government, 15 October, 1985.- Strasbourg
3. Azadov E., Baghirzada M. Azerbaijani municipalities: First experience, main problems,- Baku, 2004.
4. Salimzada M., Khalilov G. Local self-government: concept, experience, cooperation, legal basis,- Baku, 2010.
5. Goldsmith Michael J., Page, Edward C. Changing Government Relations in Europe: From localism to intergovernmentalism, Publisher: Routledge, 2010.
6. Dafflon B. "Local Public Finance in Europe: Balancing the Budget and Controlling Debt", Studies in Fiscal Federalism and State-Local Finance Series, Cheltenham Northampton, 2002.
7. Cherkasov A. Legal regulation of local self-government in the modern world/Federalism, regional governance and local self-government,- Moscow. 2000.
8. Dureev S. P., Dureeva N. S. Representativeness of the Soviet Model of Local Government.- Tambov: Gramota, 2016.
9. Municipal management and foreign institutional forms oflocal self-government. URL: https://expedu-cation.ru/ru/article/view?id=5854
10. № 7. Part 2. - P. 48-50. ISSN1997-292X. URL: http://www.gramota.net/eng/materials/3/2016/7-2/1Municipal management and foreign institutional forms of local self-government.https://expeduca-tion.ru/ru/article/view?id=5854
