LOCAL GOVERNMENT: NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE

Abstract

The article provides a legal analysis of local government from the standpoint of political-social institution and the state-legal nature. The main subject of local self-government is the population, expressing its will through a referendum, elections of bodies of local self-government and other forms of direct will, through elective and other local governments. The subject of municipal law can be a private citizen of the Russian Federation, permanently residing on the territory of the municipality. The Constitution guarantees full rights to participate in local government for citizens residing on the territory of the corresponding municipality. The practical implementation of the principles of local self-government is lagging behind the normative-theoretical basis. From 2011 to 2015, the number of employees involved in state and municipal management in Russia has increased almost by 35.7 %, while the number of employees in municipal administration was less than 4.3 %. Local government is the main condition for development of legal consciousness of the population living on the territory of the municipality, and only its active development will allow us to consider the Russian society to be a civil society.