Abstract
The article considers the phenomenon of the local community as a self-organizing system. The author successively reveals the mechanism of self-organization, considering such system-forming factors as the result, the past of the local community, as well as the immanent properties of the social system, gives an explanation of the causes and mechanism of its new properties. The main idea of the author is that the state regulation of the life of municipalities will be effective if it does not contradict the natural course of self-organization of local communities.