CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE MECHANISM OF DEMOCRATIC CIVIL CONTROL: THEORETICAL AND LEGAL ASPECT

Introduction. The Decree of the President of Ukraine «On the National Strategy for Promoting the Development of Civil Society in Ukraine for 2021–2016» outlines that the formation of a democratic, legal and social state is closely related to the development of civil society as a sphere of social activity of citizens who unite to adopt joint decisions, as well as protection of rights and interests, achievement of the common good, in cooperation with state authorities, local self-government bodies, political institutions and business. The aforementioned strategy states that an important feature of the sustainability of civil society is the functioning of civil society institutions, through which citizens and social groups ensure self-organization, representation, realization and protection of rights and interests. As the experience of our country since 2014 has shown, the institution of civil society has been formed in Ukraine, which acts as one of the important subjects of ensuring the defense of the state and repelling armed aggression. Materials and methods. The research materials are: 1) normative and legal support for the regulation of the sphere of democratic civil control; 2) works of domestic and foreign authors conducting their scientific and practical research in the field of civil society, in particular regarding democratic civil control. In the process of carrying out the research, the following scientific methods were used: historical (to define the concept of «civil society», which has a long history of development and ambiguous interpretation and approaches), formalization, analysis and synthesis (to define a tool for implementing the function of civil society control over the security sector and defense); logical generalization of results (formulation of conclusions). Conclusions. Today, civil society is gaining recognition as an element of the solid foundation of the political system. The legislator introduced a tool for implementing the function of civil society control over the security and defense sector, namely the legislative consolidation of the system of democratic civilian control over the security and defense sector. Determining the powers of the subjects of democratic civilian control contributes to the creation of an effective system of ensuring national security and defense in accordance with NATO standards. Democratic civilian control is important for the creation of an effective system of ensuring national security and defense of the state. Civil society plays a significant role in the mechanism of control over the security and defense sector. Through this mechanism, interaction between the state and society is carried out.