Nazim İbadov, Baku State University

Statement of the problem. Formation of a democratic, legal state characterized by the establishment of civil society being a form of a democratic state structure in itself, ensuring the close participation of citizens in the management of society, as well as creating conditions for meeting the socio-economic and cultural needs of the population, thus helping to ensure the rights and freedoms of people and citizens require the formation of a system of local self-government. Local self-government is the beginning of a free, democratic society.

Local self-government is an essential feature of any modern democratic society. Differences in the formation of local self-government systems depend on many factors, at the same time political regime, organization and, management of the dominant power in the country, state structure, administrative-regional division of the state, national traditions. In most modern countries, all local affairs are managed by special local government bodies established based on general, equal and, direct voting rights, as well as specially appointed local government bodies from the center through a secret ballot. Local or municipal autonomy means a local problem management system run by specially elected bodies that directly represent the population of a particular administrative-regional unit of the country. The European Charter of Local Self-Government, adopted by the Council of Europe on 15 October 1985 and serving as the main legal basis for self-government for all European States, provides a general definition for local self-government that is almost universal and accepted by all democracies. According to the Charter, local self-government means "the right and genuine ability of local self-government bodies to regulate the majority of public affairs and act within the law and take responsibility in the interests of local people."