Application of the Separation of Authority in the Public Administration System of EU Member States: Lessons for Ukraine

The separation of powers is crucial for democracy because it ensures the necessary degree of independence for the branches of authority and the impartiality of the decision-making process in government. Each state has its peculiarities in the division of responsibilities that often lead to conflicts because each branch tries to maximize its influence on the system; therefore, returning to the theory is crucial for a deeper understanding of the issue and seeing how to maximize the effectiveness of government through the improvement of the separation of powers. The idea of the separation of powers dates back to Ancient Greece and was discussed by a number of philosophers over time. For example, Locke developed the theory of modern constitutionalism while Montesquieu was the one to focus on the separation of powers. Further focusing on this example, Locke considered the structure of government from the perspective of how well it fits the needs of society, contrary to the institutional focus of Montesquieu; however, the similarity of their ideas demonstrates the direct relations between the separation of powers and the rule of law. As a distinctive feature of a democracy, the rule of law should be considered at the core of the system of public administration. Today, the tendency to accumulate power and disable some of the mechanisms contributing to the separation of powers is evident in democratic countries. Present cases include exercising authority over all three branches or making the judiciary political to serve the interests of ruling politicians rather than the law. Such a tendency is detrimental to democracies because it leads to the transition from the rule of law to the rule by law. The problem of the dissertation is connected to issues with the reform process in Ukraine that started in 2014 but could not finish due to the war with Russia. At the moment, Ukraine has obtained the status of the candidate to the EU and is ready to deepen its reforms to comply with the EU entrance requirements. In 2014, the government of Ukraine started a discussion of the reform of public administration; however, it never proposed a unified vision of how the system should look like after the reform. The government of Ukraine has proposed a general outline of how the system of public administration should evolve while detailed solutions are still to be proposed; therefore, the problem of the dissertation is to generate recommendations and evaluate how they fit in the system of public administration of Ukraine. As the reform is necessary while Ukraine has clearly chosen integration in the EU as its political direction, the experience of the EU states can become a useful start for the development of reform proposals. As a result, the research question follows from the status quo of an academic discussion and is: what elements from the systems of public administration of chosen countries can be implemented in Ukraine to improve the general functioning of the state system and contribute to the transformation of Ukraine into a democracy and an EU member state? The aim of the research question is to generate a set of proposals and recommendations that can be considered in the future by the policymakers in Ukraine while planning the continuation of the reform. The purpose of the dissertation is to compare the systems of public administration from the perspective of the separation of powers in Belgium, Germany, France, and Ukraine to propose recommendations on how the system can be improved in Ukraine. These countries are chosen based on their similarity to the vision of the government of Ukraine. France is considered to have the closest system of public administration to Ukrainian due to primarily being a highly centralized one undergoing a decentralization reform. Germany and Belgium are federations that were primarily the final expected outcome for Ukraine. Unfortunately, at the moment, it is impossible for Ukraine to decentralize authority in the state of war; however, the status quo raises questions about the accountability of the government and monitoring of its action where examples from Belgium and Germany can be of great use. The dissertation will be primarily based on the comparative approach as far as chosen countries share common features as being democracies and adhering to the EU law. As far as cases share a basic framework, a comparison is meant to elucidate their differences and peculiarities for further evaluation. The dissertation will involve a combination of a philosophical and legal approach. It will include an in-depth study of relevant works of philosophers on the topic to develop the definition of the term 'separation of powers'. Later, the research will shift from the philosophical to the legal definition of the term 'separation of powers' on the basis of both the constitutions of and practices in Ukraine, Belgium, Germany, and France. Later, an elaborated definition will be. In the second part, the dissertation will focus on a comparison of different aspects of the system of public administration throughout countries on a case study basis to identify mechanisms present in the EU member states that could improve existing problems in Ukraine. In the third part, the findings of part two will be applied to Ukrainian reality to study possibilities for the implementation of the experiences of chosen EU member states. The aim of the dissertation is to introduce the alternative organization of the system of public administration that can solve problems that stem from the flaws in the system of public administration in Ukraine to support its further democratization and prioritization of the rule of law.