Local self-government in a unified system of public authority: the evolution of legislation and legal innovations

This study examines the legal essence of local self-government through the prism of its integration into a single system of public authority in the modern Russian Federation. The organizational and substantive independence of local government bodies proclaimed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation has been repeatedly refracted in the Russian regulatory system, judicial practice and scientific discourse, transforming as a result of the consistent evolution of the idea of public authority. The new legislative basis laid down by Federal Law No. 33-FZ of March 20, 2025 "On General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government in a Single System of Public Authority" has enshrined a qualitatively different way of legal existence of local self-government - as a component of state-municipal symbiosis, subordinated to the logic of centralization and managerial unification. Analyzing the genesis, doctrinal approaches, constitutional and legislative transformations, the authors reveal the modern content of the legal nature of local self-government, highlight the main trends in the development of legislation on local self-government, and identify prospects for the development of a new model of local self-government.