Introduction

Democratic changes in Ukraine led to the review of the fundamental principles of the constitutional order. Article 7 of the Constitution proclaims that in Ukraine local self-government is recognised and guaranteed. Chapter XI of the Constitution describes local self-government as the right of a territorial community — residents of a village or a voluntary association of residents of several villages into one village community, residents of a settlement, and of a city — to independently resolve issues of local character within the limits of the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine. So municipal public power is recognized and guaranteed in the Ukraine. Though Ukrainian Constitution pays more attention to other branch of public power – to the state power, according to resolution of the Venice Commission, Chapter XI provides necessary democratic basis for the development of the effective local self-government system in our country.

Nowadays the municipal reform as the part of the administrative reform is being carried out in Ukraine and many efforts are being taken to increase the efficiency of the local self-government. To illustrate the possible consequences of the various stages of the reform and to prevent ineffective decisions previous national and modern foreign experiences are very valuable. That’s why comparative municipal law is essential for the future lawyers.

The course provides students an introduction to and understanding of the primary principles of municipal law. The central focus of the course will be on the current issues in municipal law in Ukraine. Consideration will also be given to the foreign municipal experience in order to make relevant comparisons.

Subject matter to be covered: sources of the national municipal law, international and European standards of the local self-government, territorial communities, local direct democracy, bodies of self-organisation of population, organisational forms of local self-government, jurisdiction and financial basis of the municipal authorities.

Course specific objectives are:

1. to understand the difference between public state and public municipal powers, to look at the local self-government as at the natural right of every local (territorial) community;

2. to learn about the local self-government in Ukraine – history, contemporary situation, problems and perspectives;

3. to obtain an overview of the local self-government in foreign countries with the long democratic experience.

The learning objectives for the course are:

1. to generalize a variety of theories and case studies into a holistic understanding of the public municipal power.

2. to form respect to the most essential local self-government institutions and understanding of their role and functions in a contemporary state. Learn how to think about the local self-government in Ukraine in the light of the country’s recent democratic experience.

3. to form democratic outlook, abilities of comparative analysis, abilities of critical analysis, and discussion skills of the students.

Teaching Methodology. The course combines 2 basic methods of teaching: lecturing and discussions in seminars on previously assigned topics.

Lectures are organized every second week, while seminars (5) are held every week during the last five weeks. Each lecture deals with basic aspects of the course of the course subject and emphasizes topics from the literature relevant to them. On the seminars the students discuss and interpret the legal and doctrinal sources related to the topics of the lectures (the students have to read 2-3 mandatory readings for each seminar).

Assessment. Student’s performance will be evaluated as follows

Participation in seminar discussion – 15%.

Weekly summaries of the assigned readings – 35%.

Final essay – 25 %.

Oral exam – 25%.

‘Pass’ grade should include 3 of these 4 assignments. If two of the assignments is failed (student receives 0% grade) – it means the course is failed.

Participation in seminar discussion is worse 15% of the final grade. The assessment includes presents on the seminars whom preparation all necessary readings and contribution to the quality of discussion.

Weekly summaries of the assigned readings is worse 35% of the final grade.

Annotation of the research article should include: author, title, main ideas and arguments. The summaries should be presented before each seminar. Each student should have the portfolio which includes annotations of all of the mandatory readings of the course. The students will have to do one annotation on each seminar – thus, the student’s portfolio will constantly grow.

As an additional (but not compulsory!) item of the portfolio the students can provide conference papers / book or article reviews / comparative analysis of the legal acts. The texts should be written by students and be relevant to the content of the course. The presence of this additional item of the portfolio can give from 5 to 10% to the final grade.

The student’s portfolio should be presented before each seminar during all five weeks of the seminars, and before the oral exam. It is necessary for taking part in the seminar discussion and passing the oral exam.

Final essay is worse 25% of the final grade. Guidance about the final essay is given in Seminar 5 section.

Oral exam is worse 25% of the final grade. At the oral exam the student will get 2 of 50 questions of the course.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-02