Administrative and Legal Mechanisms for Ensuring Public Interests in the System of Public Administration

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of administrative-legal mechanisms for ensuring public interests within the system of public administration in Ukraine. Doctrinal approaches to defining the category of "public interest" as a legal phenomenon, distinct from state and private interests, are examined, and the evolution of this category in Ukrainian and European legal thought is traced. The structure of the administrative-legal mechanism is explored, encompassing normative, institutional, procedural, instrumental, and guarantee components, and the necessity of their coordination for the effective functioning of the system is substantiated. The main administrative instruments for realizing public interests are analyzed: permitting and licensing, control and supervision mechanisms, the mechanism of administrative service delivery, administrative coercion, and strategic planning. Particular attention is paid to the problem of balancing public and private interests through the lens of the proportionality doctrine and European standards, including the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and foreign experience (Germany, France, Great Britain). The role of digitalization of public services, in particular the Diia platform, decentralization, and European integration processes in transforming public interest mechanisms is identified. The impact of the Law of Ukraine "On Administrative Procedure" on formalizing the search for balance between public and private interests is examined. Challenges related to the restriction of human rights under martial law conditions are established, and the necessity of preserving the principle of proportionality during the transitional period is substantiated. It is concluded that the optimal model of administrative-legal protection of public interests should be based on the principles of systematicity, the rule of law, accountability, and proportionality, with the institutionalization of regulatory impact analysis and strengthening the independence of oversight bodies.