Municipal reform 2021–2025: organizational and legal aspects

Introduction. The development of the institute of local self-government in Russia has been repeatedly modified, which is explained both by the improvement of the norms of domestic legislation and by changes in the socio-economic, political, historical and cultural context. Another round of transformations in the municipal sphere was initiated in 2021 during the development of a draft law aimed at bringing legislation on municipal government in line with the updates during the constitutional reform of 2020.

Purpose. A comprehensive assessment of the ongoing municipal reform in the Russian Federation in 2021-2025, its organizational and legal aspects, the study and characterization of existing conflict-oflaws regulations that entered into force (from June 19, 2025) and enter into force in the long term (from January 1, 2027).

Methods. The research is based on both general scientific methods of dialectics, analysis and synthesis, analogy and modeling, as well as private law methods of comparative law, formal law and interpretation, on the basis of which the institution of local self-government and the ongoing municipal reform were studied and analyzed in evolutionary unity and interrelation.

Results. A scientifically based assessment is given of the municipal reform initiated by federal public authorities from 2021 to the present, aimed at integrating municipal government into the system of unified public authority in accordance with the provisions governing the institution of local self-government in the Russian Federation updated during the constitutional reform of 2020. In a comparative legal perspective, the main legal prescriptions contained in Federal Law № 131 dated 06.10.2003 "On General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation" and Federal Law № 33 dated 25.03.2025 "On General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Unified System of Public Authority" are compared in order to identify distinctive features and common features, assessment of legislative innovations, their official interpretation, and prospects for future law enforcement practice.

Conclusions. As a result of the study of the foundations and dynamics of the municipal reform carried out since 2021, which ended with the adoption and entry into force in the summer of 2025. According to the new law regulating the functioning of the institution of local self-government, we conclude that its effectiveness depends not least on taking into account the needs and requests of the population of municipalities, stabilizing and improving the quality of interaction between the three levels of public authority, transparency in the functioning of the system of local self-government bodies, and their accountability not only to higher government authorities, but also to the population of municipalities. which local community authorities contact directly without intermediaries. In the near future, the transfer of some powers from the municipal to the regional level may negate the intrinsic value of local self-government, while at the same time new prospects appear for the implementation of joint projects at various levels of public authority in the case of a constructive equal dialogue between them. Problematic aspects of the new law are also highlighted, such as the rejection of such forms of direct (i.e. direct) democracy, previously used as a law-making initiative of citizens of municipalities and the institution of recall of deputies (and other elected officials of local government), the absence in the text of the new law of an article with a glossary of basic terms explaining the key definitions used in the law. Proposals are being made to address these gaps in legislation.

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