Main institutions of governance and conditions for the development of rural areas

The article notes that the main condition for bringing rural areas of Russia out of the crisis and ensuring their competitiveness is the development and full use of the economic and social potential of the rural population. It is shown that the main prerequisites for this include strengthening the institutions of local government and small entrepreneurship in rural areas. An assessment of the state of these institutions is given; it is shown that it does not meet modern requirements. It is revealed that the decisions taken are not aimed at their development, moreover, they have the opposite direction. The reasons for the current situation are listed, their subjective nature is established. It is concluded that for the development of rural areas it is necessary to move away from the established long-term unpromising practice of adopting regulatory legal acts (laws, strategies, state programs, etc.) that do not contribute to the real development of local government and small entrepreneurship in rural areas. Key words: rural area, governance institutions, agriculture, public administration, local government, small entrepreneurship, economic potential, social potential.