LEGITIMACY DEFICIT AND INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE: CHALLENGES AND WAYS TO OVERCOME

Abstract

The article analyzes the institutional capacity and legitimacy of governmental structures in Ukraine, particularly in the context of the current war. The main problem that undermines the effectiveness of the government is the regulatory and legal traps that arise from unreformed mechanisms of relations between the branches of government. The author analyzes these traps in the examples of interaction between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President, and how it affects decision-making. The author considers the duality of executive leadership as a key problem when both the president and the prime minister have the authority to manage the government, which creates a blurred system of responsibility and destabilizes the political process in general. The issue of the lack of a clear mechanism of government control by parliament, in particular through the institution of a coalition, is highlighted, which deepens the crisis of legitimacy. The traps are exacerbated by the possibility of the government functioning without an approved program, which reduces political responsibility. The author assesses political practices and inter-institutional relations in European countries (France and Germany)  to compare their governance systems with the Ukrainian ones. It is demonstrated that in Ukraine the system of interaction between the parliament and the government is less effective, which undermines democratic principles. The conclusions about the need for fundamental changes in the legal framework to eliminate the opacity of political practices in Ukraine and to remove restrictions on the activities of the Ukrainian government to increase its ability to respond effectively to challenges, in particular against the backdrop of war and in the context of post-war reconstruction, are argued.