Local self-government in the region: situation assessment and development prospects

The study of trends, problems, prospects for functioning and development of local self-government institute has been updated in Russia since 2020 due to the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which entered into force on July 4, 2020 and affected many areas of country’s state and socio-political structure, as well as task set by the President of the Russian Federation to develop new Foundations of state policy in the field of local self-government development in Russia for the period through to 2030. One of the most effective methods for studying the processes of functioning of local self-government institute is various sociological studies (surveys of municipalities’ heads). In this regard, the purpose of the work is to assess the current situation with state and problems of the local self-government functioning, to identify attitude of the municipalities’ heads to the current trends in the reform of local self-government (2014-2019) in the case of a particular region (in this article, it is the case study of the Vologda Oblast). To achieve this goal, we used such scientific methods as economic, statistical and comparative analysis, methods of generalization and expert survey, and monographic method. The scientific novelty of the article is to study local self-government development in the assessments of municipalities’ heads in the context of territories with differentlevels (high and low) of socio-economic development. The results of the research indicate that the municipalities’ heads with a low level of development point to the greater severity of problems of the municipalities’ development, due, among other things, to shortcomings in the implementation of the policy of the entity of the Russian Federation. In conclusion, the author presents recommendations of the leading Russian organizations on improving the state policy on local self-government development. The results can be used in the activities of state authorities of the Russian Federation, as well as serve as a basis for further scientific research on this topic.