THE IMPACT OF MARTIAL LAW ON INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE UNFINISHED ASPECTS OF THE DECENTRALIZATION REFORM IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article examines the impact of martial law on the further implementation of the decentralization and territorial governance reform in Ukraine, particularly on those aspects that had not been fully resolved before the start of hostilities. It analyzes how the introduction of the legal regime of martial law affects the number of tasks and functions assigned to local self-government bodies, as well as the distribution of their powers in connection with the establishment of military state administrations. It was found that despite existing restrictions, the actual number of issues requiring solutions has increased. It is emphasized that under martial law, the resolution of several underdeveloped areas of the reform has been halted or slowed down, including: insufficient delineation of powers between local self-government bodies and local executive authorities, the formation of executive bodies for district and regional councils, the regulation of interbudgetary relations and regional disparities, as well as the mismatch between transferred powers and available resources. To provide a generalized assessment of the local self-government system, the authors used a SWOT analysis and examined the impact of martial law on the resource constraints of local budgets using the example of the Lviv urban territorial community. As a result, conclusions were drawn regarding the need to refine and update the unresolved aspects of the decentralization reform, taking into account the experience of local governance under martial law.