Rural settlements under the conditions of the municipal reform

The article analyses the prospects of forming an effective local self-government as the instrument for solving the socio-economic problems of population in one of the subsidized regions in the Russian North (Republic of Adygeya). The article is based on the data from a monitoring study held in rural settlements of the region. It also contains information on how the situation in rural settlements was impacted by the priority national project in the sphere of agriculture launched just at the same time as the municipal reform. The author proposes his classification of the factors hampering formation of the economic basis for local self-government.