Reforming the Institutional Space for The Development of Municipalities

Abstract

Local self-government is the most important component in the system of federative relations. The  general indicators of the country’s socio-economic development  largely depend  on the chosen model of local self-government, the mechanisms  of relations between municipalities, both  with  regional  and  federal  public  authorities.  The  recent  changes  in  the  Russian Federation at the level of constitutional  and legal regulation have changed the institutional field  of municipal  development.  These  changes  were  followed  by the development  of two important bills: the Draft Federal Law  «On Urban Agglomerations» prepared by the Ministry of  Economic  Development,  and  the  Draft  Federal  Law   «On  the  General  Principles  of Organizing Local  Self-Government in a Unified System  of Public Power», the analysis  of which  is the focus of the article.  Based  on the study  of world  experience, it is concluded that  the transformations  of the institutional  space of local self-government and  municipal development taking place in Russia, in general, correspond to global trends in spatial development.  Particular  attention  is paid to urban  agglomerations as, on the one hand, a modern  form  of spatial  organization;  and, on the  other hand, a form  of inter-municipal cooperation.