The issues of the functioning of the institute of local government (based on a survey of heads of municipal entities of the Northwestern federal district and the Vologda oblast)

Local governing is one of the most important public and state institutions in the country and represents an independent, under its own responsibility, decision of the population, made directly and (or) through local government bodies on local issues in the public interest, taking into account historical and other local traditions. With Russia's transition to a market-based economy in the 1990s, the institution of local government became to revive, to shape and to develop. Since January 1, 2009 (in the Vologda Oblast and a number of other territorial entities of the Russian Federation - since January 1, 2006), Federal Law No. 131-FZ “Concerning the general principles of the organization of local government in the Russian Federation” has come into force throughout Russia. Though the adoption of this law laid the foundation of the reform, its main goals and objectives, for various reasons, have not yet been fully achieved. In this regard, it is important to study the future trends and challenges of the functioning of local government, this being the very purpose of this article...