CLASSIFICATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE IN UKRAINE AMIDST MODERN TRANSFORMATIONS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

The article examines contemporary approaches to the classification of public service in
Ukraine in the context of ongoing institutional transformations. The methodological framework of the study
is based on institutional, systemic, and structural-functional approaches, as well as comparative legal,
legal-normative, and logical-theoretical methods of analysis. It is substantiated that traditional approaches
to the classification of public service no longer fully reflect the contemporary institutional structure of this
legal and social institution due to the emergence of positions that perform public service functions but do
not belong to any of the legislatively established types of public service. Such service positions are
proposed to be considered as non-system public service, an analytical category that characterizes
manifestations of the deinstitutionalization of public service and the violation of the principle of its
institutional integrity. The key characteristics of this category are analysed according to functional,
normative, organizational, and status-related criteria. It is demonstrated that the identification of nonsystem public service is not intended to establish a new legal category but rather serves as a scientific
and analytical construct aimed at revealing institutional contradictions arising from the fragmentation of
legal regulation. The scientific novelty of the study lies in substantiating the concept of non-system public
service as an independent analytical category and further developing the institutional approach to the
classification of public service types. The practical significance of the findings consists in their potential
application to improving legislation in the field of public service, eliminating institutional gaps in the legal
status of certain categories of public servants, and ensuring the institutional integrity of Ukraine’s public
service system.