Knowledge Capabilities of Local Government in the Context of Decentralisation in Ukraine

Abstract

There is an increasing actualisation of the knowledge component of the institutional capacity of local self-government authorities in Ukraine within ongoing decentralisation. The issue that arises concerns the officials’ knowledge sufficiency to generate and implement new ideas on the territories’ development, and the availability of unique skills for the development of relevant programmes, projects and plans. Herein, the analysis of the real knowledge needs of officials, whose sphere of competence lies in decision-making about the territories’ ways of development as well as their practical implementation, plays an important role. The article presents the results of a study of the opinions of local self-government officials of united territorial communities (UTCs) from the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Kherson and Poltava regions of Ukraine, concerning their level of knowledge on the territories’ management; their needs for additional knowledge; the most common and convenient ways of obtaining knowledge; and the most problematic areas where the new knowledge is most demanded. The obtained data and the conclusions drawn can be considered, in particular, as an informational basis for the formation of training programmes and plans, cases and tasks for specialists training in the field of public administration.     

Youth Protests against Education Privatization Reforms in Post-Soviet States

This article examines youth protests against education privatization in the post-Soviet countries of Latvia, Russia, and Ukraine. Drawing on a sample of online sources and scholarly articles, this study uses critical discourse analysis and visual methodologies to examine why and how post-Soviet university students have organized to protest against education privatization reforms. The study also critically analyzes visual and discursive representations of youth protests by government officials, mass media, and academia in the post-Soviet education space. The study reveals that while student protesters are deeply concerned about the future of public education, the messages (and images) generated by youth protesters are reappropriated in various ways by mass media, often beyond the control of protesters themselves.