TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS OF THE CONCEPT OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW UNDER REFORM
Authors: Levchenko Svitlana , Holovko Kateryna 
Published: October 2019

The article is devoted to the study of the essence and content of individual transformation processes in the field of administrative law of Ukraine under the conditions of administrative and legal reform. Attention focuses on the issue of a detailed assessment of the nature of public relations, which are included in the sphere of legal regulation of the field of administrative law. The author concludes that a qualitative and substantial update of the theoretical and methodological basis should be an integral part of administrative and legal reform. The importance of the process of updating the categorical framework, the introduction into the legal circulation of new categories, capable of creating a more solid scientific basis of administrative law, is proved. The positions of leading Ukrainian scholars in the field of administrative law on the essence of the category “public administration” are analysed and the reasons for the dualism of approaches to its definition in the Ukrainian administrative and legal doctrine are revealed. Attention is paid to the basic factors of the shift of the idea of the priority of the rule of law towards the specific relationship between public administration bodies and individuals. The subject matter of the study is the traditions and innovations of the concept of administrative law of Ukraine in terms of reform. The purpose is to study the nature and content of transformational changes in the administrative law of Ukraine at the present stage. The methodological basis of the study was the set of methods and techniques of scientific knowledge. The methodological construction is based on a systematic analysis that defined its directions. The systematic approach in some issues was supplemented by an axiological (ideological) approach. Empirical methods such as observation, description, comparison, and inductive generalization were used to identify trends in the reform of the administrative law of Ukraine. The logical and semantic method was used for formulation and in-depth study of the conceptual framework. The dialectical method of cognition made it possible to investigate the problems associated with the definition of the concept of “public administration” in Ukrainian administrative and legal doctrine. Application of methods of modelling, analysis, synthesis, generalization, and analogy allowed formulating the conclusions of the study. The conclusions of this study are that the author has established that an integral part of the administrative and legal reform of Ukraine should be a qualitative and substantial updating of the categorical and terminological framework of the field of administrative law and, above all, the basic category of “public administration”. At the same time, in the context of Ukraine’s development as a democratic and legal state, all reform initiatives must be systematic and consistent. Special attention also needs to be paid to scientific and analytical monitoring of the state of introduced changes and consequences of the implemented administrative reform measures, which will allow expeditiously identifying and correcting possible mistakes, as well as making recommendations on further prospects of the development of the administrative and legal sector. Practical implications. The results of the study will help to better understand the basic aspects of the new concept of administrative law and can be used in the research field for a further in-depth study of the issue of transformational changes in the administrative and legal field.