COMMUNITIES IN PEACE AND WAR TIME (Review of the book by D. Palatnaya and T. Semigina "Community Cohesion: Social Dimension")

Abstract

The development of social services at the level of territorial communities for those who need it can be considered one of the key aspects of domestic social policy. This issue became especially relevant during the russian-Ukrainian war, a period when the number of those who are in need of support and assistance services is constantly growing. Currently, the creation of a market of social service providers of different levels of subordination (state, communal, non-state) is today the prerogative of the state. The distribution of responsibility for financing social services for recipients between the state, local self-government bodies, legal entities and natural persons by the recipients themselves will allow to advance this idea on the ground and to form an effective network of social institutions capable of providing high-quality social services on the ground. The introduction of uniform standards approaches to the provision of social services will make the system open and accessible to recipients, and the expansion of the list of social services itself will allow meeting the needs of a wider range of clients. All the listed higher aspects of the state and local self-government bodies are trying to implement in action. However, the issue of lack of resources remains acute. That is why community cohesion to solve social problems and develop social services can be considered as one of the options for solving the situation with a lack of resources. The monographic publication by D. Palatnaya and T. Semigina (2024) presents a significant theoretical and practical basis of the process of uniting territorial communities in conditions of decentralization.