GENERAL SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO DEFINING THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM OF
Authors: Шатіло Володимир 
Published: July 2021

The purpose of this work is to define the concept of functions of the state power constitutional mechanism through the study of doctrinal positions of function in various branches of social sciences.

Methodology for the functions’ study of the state power constitutional mechanism consists of the methods of cognition, discovered and developed by philosophy, history, sociology, theory of law and state, specialized legal sciences and approved by legal practice. Thus, the role of the historical method in the analysis of the functions of the constitutional mechanism of state power, in addition to explaining the nature of origin and development, is to ensure a systematic study of the evolution of this category. The semantic method was used to clarify the meaning of the term “function”, its scientific and practical meaning, the possibility of using it in constitutional law to refer to such legal categories as “constitutional mechanism of state power”. The comparative method was applied to reveal the general in such terms as “functions”, “goals” and “tasks”.

The results of the study show that the function is a kind of “a pattern”, “a standard”, “an ideal model” of the system’s work, in particular, of the constitutional mechanism of state power, and therefore, it must be, on the one hand, differentiated from the goals and tasks that face the system, and on the other hand – from the real, actual activity of its institutions (competences). When determining the functions of the constitutional mechanism of state power, it must be assumed that, firstly, the functions are the directions of influence of a certain socially significant phenomenon or circumstance on certain legal relations, and secondly, the functions are the activity of certain subjects of the constitutional mechanism of state power within the limits of the powers specified in the Constitution and laws; thirdly, functions reflect the essence of the phenomenon, its purpose and patterns of development. The theory of functions of the constitutional mechanism of state power should proceed from the social purpose of the state, its tasks and goals, the legislation of Ukraine, as well as the experience of practical activity of the state apparatus and the achievement of scientific opinion in the field of constitutional law and a number of theoretical and applied legal sciences. Actually the system of functions of the state determines the need to study the functions of the constitutional mechanism of state power, but if the functions of the state are the directions of influence on public relations, then the functions of the constitutional mechanism of state power are the directions of the state functions within the competence of individual institutions that make up the structure of the constitutional mechanism of the state power.

On the basis of this research, the author comes to the conclusion that the functions of the constitutional mechanism of state power should be defined as the directions of activity of the subjects of the constitutional mechanism of state power within the competence defined in the Constitution and laws aimed at achieving the goals and tasks of the state.