Institute of TPSG in the Practices of Self-Organization of Local and Sublocal Communities (Case Study of Berdsk, Novosibirsk Region)

The paper is devoted to the study of the experience of Berdsk, Novosibirsk region, in the development of territorial public self-government (TPSG). The purpose is to describe how global trends in the development of this institution, state and regional, manifest themselves at the level of a specific municipality and a separate locality. The empirical basis of the study was made up of official data on TPSG in Berdsk in the period from 2018 to 2024 and data from semi-structured expert interviews conducted in 2024. The experts were the chairmen of the TPSG and representatives of local authorities (administration staff and deputies). It is concluded that the government's support for the TPSG institute contributes to an increase in the number of TPSG. During this process, within a single local community, sublocal communities are identified, united by a common territory of residence and the solution of problems of its improvement; as well as the identification of groups of initiative members in the person of chairmen and activists within the sublocal communities themselves. The features of territorial public self-government in Berdsk are highlighted. Here, relatively small groups of the population from several dozen to several hundred residents self-organize into TPSG. There is a tendency to enlarge initially small TPSG. This institution has an administrative resource in the person of deputies, whose help it uses. The Berdsk administration, which is the main operator in interactions with TPSG, is focused on solving specific problems of sublocal communities, which is manifested in the support of grants of a certain type.