The article examines the process of regional political elite formation of Vinnytsia region in the context of Ukrainian state formation based on the analysis of the results of national and local elections held in the constituencies of Vinnytsia region, biographies of deputies from the region as well as deputies of Vinnytsia regional and city councils, heads of Vinnytsia regional state administration, heads of district state administrations and district councils of the region. The author provides the definition for the regional political elite and outlines the ways of its set up, offers the model of its modern structure for Vinnytsia region.Also, it was determined that at the beginning of the existence of an independent Ukraine, a key role in the formation of the new regional political elite was played by the people from the «nomenklatura» and former leaders of the Soviet enterprises. The obtained data confirms, that this social group was the main pool of recruitment of heads of Vinnytsia Regional State Administration and District State Administrations of Vinnytsia region until the mid-2000s, and the traditions they introduced into modern political culture influenced the formation of political and economic groups (clans) and the dominance of neopatrimonial relations in the interaction between different actors.As defined, people from different spheres of economic and socio-political life of the region participate in the formation of the modern regional political elite of Vinnytsia region. In particular, they are representatives of the economic elite (business owners, managers of private and state enterprises), party elite, elites of mass media and public organizations, and intellectual elite (heads and employees of science, education, medicine and culture). The tendency to increase the number of business representatives in these authorities while reducing the number of heads of state authorities, local governments and utilities was shown by the example of the Vinnytsia Regional Council of II, III, VII convocations and Vinnytsia City Council of VI and VII convocations; a consistently high level of the number of people from the intellectual elite in the regional and city councils was noted. Special attention is paid to the penetration of media and public sector figures into the power institutions as well as to their influence on the formation of the political agenda of the region.

In the article, key challenges and problems that arose during the implementation of local self-government reform and financial decentralization in Ukraine were analyzed and systematized, in particular: poor communication between government and citizens; inconsistent power sharing between local self-government bodies and executive bodies as well as between councils of the united territorial communities and district state administrations and district councils; ensuring the capacity of formed communities; low quality of local government staff; inefficient use of financial resources. Factors that were behind the resistance of local communities to reform or a passive attitude to the creation of united territorial communities were identified and studied, namely: economic (expectations of reduced financial capacity of the community due to unification), socio-cultural (ethnic, linguistic, religious, cultural differences between residents of neighboring communities), psychological (distrust of central and local government, fear of reduction of social facilities, decline and disappearance of peripheral villages and towns, strengthening local elites), geographical (deterioration of access to service centers), and environmental (efforts of community residents to avoid the transfer of harmful industries to their own territory). The geographical unevenness of the pace of the process of unification of territorial communities in the course of decentralization has been associated with the position of political actors at different levels − central, regional, subregional and local. According to the type of attitude of the regional leadership to decentralization, three groups of regions were identified: those supporting the reform, and those who passively or actively resisted the change. The main reasons and forms of resistance of district councils and district state administrations to the decentralization reform have been clarified, the motives of actions of local political actors explained. Key words: decentralization, local self-government, local self-government bodies, united territorial community, social crisis.

The monograph is dedicated to the research of modern problems of the political development of Ukraine. Issues related to the choice of the general strategic course of the state, the transformation of the socio-political system, and the ethno-political and spiritual evolution of Ukrainian society are analyzed. The publication is addressed to scientists, teachers and students, everyone who is interested in the problems of socio-political development.

The articles included in the collection cover the most important issues of Ukraine's political development since independence. The problems connected with the choice of the general strategic course of the state, with the transformation of the socio-political system, with the ethno-political and spiritual evolution of the Ukrainian society are considered. For scientists, teachers, students, for everyone who pay attention to the problems of national development.

The collective monograph is devoted to the one of most discussed in Ukrainian society problem that concerns the relationship between the character of political governing and socio-economic situation. The focus of the book is key problem to this question - about the level of social responsibility of the country ruling class and its main segments, such as political parties, ruling regime, business corporations, spiritual and intellectual leaders, etc. The book contains analysis of the degree of the ruling class awareness of their responsibility and of their willingness to act responsibly the immediate and long-term consequences of their actions. The analysis is illustrated with situation in a number of political and spiritual spheres, the situation in which is important for overcoming the crisis and for consolidating citizens to find way out. The monograph was prepared based on the results of the research project "Social Responsibility in Political Activity in Modern Ukraine: Status and Trends", carried out within the framework of the target research program "Social Ideal and Political Interests in Modern Ukraine". The book is intended for scientists, politicians, and both post- and undergraduate students ofpolitical science, as well as for everyone who is interested in the peculiarities of political development of Ukraine.