Правові засади та інновації транскордонної співпраці: компонент регіонального та місцевого самоврядування

The authors of the study revealed the legal, theoretical and methodological foundations and practical effectiveness of an innovative approach to cross-border cooperation at the level of regional and local self-government bodies. The object of the researchers was the process of transformation of international cooperation and assistance. The subject is the improvement of this form and its innovativeness. It is on this level and its effectiveness that the researchers focused their analysis. They prove the advantages of such cooperation over the state level for both parties participating in this process. The new level stood out, taking into account the practice of cooperation of previous decades and on the basis of theoretical and methodological and legal foundations, as a special operational and effective one in achieving real results in times of political turbulence, globalization processes, transformations and the conduct of a full-scale war by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The topic is revealed by the authors against the background of historical processes, democratic changes in post-totalitarian countries, solving the urgent tasks that faced them on the path to democracy, the rule of law and new institutional forms of international relations and international cooperation for the purpose of further civilizational development of humanity. The authors prove that post-Soviet Ukraine, having gained sovereignty and independence, began its new path of state-building development on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. To this end, it reformed public relations at the state level and interstate relations at the legislative level, in particular in the direction of cross-border cooperation. Ukraine, on a democratic path and a new legislative framework, continued cross-border cooperation different from the Soviet one, full of new content, effective and visible results. The experience gained, the established traditions of the multinational region became an aid in establishing new approaches, innovative forms of cross-border cooperation.