Excessive centralization in regional development not only significantly weakens influence of regional authorities on social and economic development of territories and virtually depriving them of the necessary resources, but also leads to a deepening asymmetry of spatial development. Therefore an urgent matter of today is the need to review the principles of the state policy of regional development.

The purpose of this article is a development of propositions on improvement of the methodological basis for forming a new paradigm of development that would facilitate the equalization of regional asymmetries based on maximizing of involvement of regional potential.

Vision of the state regional policy’s nature, its objectives and principles are formulated in this paper. State regional policy – is a set of goals, objectives and management measures of socio-economic and environmental development of the country in its regional context, aimed at compliance with the balance of regional landscapes and includes the relationship between the state and the regions, and among regions themselves.

The objectives of the state regional policy is: ensuring of compliance with social standards, including social comfort of living and opportunities for reproduction of human potential;reducing of the regional development asymmetry to an acceptable level;maximum exploitation of each region potential, taking into account the specific structure of the productive forces and the need for balanced regional development;environmental management and conservation of the environment for future generations;

The principles of state regional policy include common (balance, comprehensiveness, balanced development, prioritization, science, optimality, sustainability, legitimacy, historicism, perspective, consistency, subsidiarity, objectivity, effectiveness, proportionality, transparency, synergy) and specific (relevance, eventuality, adaptability, innovativeness, heuristic, creativity, complementarity, integration).

Methodical approaches of taking account of the degree of asymmetry in levels of regional development were suggested. They are used in the implementation of modern regional development strategy and making management decisions in this area by implementing economic and mathematical model for determining the levels of integrated regional development by components of sustainable development – «economy», «society», «environment».

Estimates that were conducted by the suggested method revealed significant systemic disparities in economic and social level of Ukraine’s regions and levels of environmental safety.

Also the institutional preconditions of forming of a new regional development paradigm were defined. They include adoption of series of basic laws on regional policy and amendments to the existing legal framework. The most important of these laws should become the law of Ukraine «About the Principles of Regional Policy», and amendments to the existing legal framework.

At the paper was emphasized on the necessity of forming of a new regional development paradigm through a combination of decentralization, namely delegation of administrative powers to the local level elected bodies, and deconcentration – the transfer of authority to the local level authorities, that have to provide a synergistic effect on reforming of the regional development management. 

state regional policy, regional development, regional asymmetry, decentralization, deconcentration