Decentralization Reform as a Factor of Stability of Territorial Communities in the Conditions of the Russian Ukrainian War

Abstract

The decentralization reform launched in 2014 has proven to be one of the most successful and important reforms 
in Ukraine. Decentralization has created conditions for increasing the independence and capacity of territorial 
communities, which has contributed to the strengthening of not only local self-government, but also the state as a 
whole. The article analyzes the impact of the decentralization reform on strengthening the resilience of territorial 
communities, and also assesses the significance of this phenomenon for the unity of the state and the consolidation of 
society during the war of Russia against Ukraine. 
Views on «community resilience» in Western science are studied and compared with the understanding of this 
concept by Ukrainian scientists and legislators. The social, economic and political aspects of the reform that 
contributed to increasing the efficiency of governance at the local level are analyzed. The interdependence between the 
innovations of the decentralization reform and the growth of the resilience of territorial communities is clarified. The 
institutional resilience of territorial communities during the war was analyzed, and the positive impact of changing the 
administrative-territorial structure of the state and the introduction of military administrations of settlements on 
maintaining state unity was revealed. The impact of financial decentralization on the growth of the capacity of 
communities was shown, which, in turn, provided them with the opportunity to perform some state functions in critical 
situations; the state of financial resilience of territorial communities during the war was tracked. The social resilience 
of communities was studied through the prism of increasing trust in local government bodies and the establishment of 
horizontal ties between communities. Existing challenges to the resilience of territorial communities were studied. The 
increase in pressure from the executive branch on local self-government and the tendency to roll back decentralization 
were identified and analyzed. It was concluded that the strengthening of local self-government as a result of the 
decentralization reform allowed communities to better cope with crisis situations, which in the conditions of the war of 
Russia against Ukraine played a decisive role in preserving national unity.