Abstract
The article explores the theoretical foundations and organizational and methodological approaches to the formation of public debt as a phenomenon in the country's economic space and an object of regulation by the country's financial system. The primary methods of scientific research are general scientific and specialized tools of inquiry, namely: comparison, deduction, analysis, classification, assessment, ranking, systematization, and others. The need to carry out a definitive assessment of the specified complex macrofinancial phenomenon from the position of three logical levels is substantiated: as a financial category, based on the definition of the essence; in quantitative and qualitative directions, which cover the assessment of the amount and structure of debt; functional role with a systemic analysis of the "need" and "necessity" of debt relations at all levels. The content of the concept of "public debt" as a component of economic relations at the macro level, which affects financial processes in the country, is an object of management in the short and long term, a source of risks or the formation of financial prospects, has been clarified. The main research methods are general scientific and special tools of cognition, among which it is appropriate to note such as: comparison, deduction, analysis, classification, evaluation, ranking, systematization, and others. A comparative analysis of scientific paradigms of the emergence of public debt and its management systems in the Ukrainian scientific community and abroad has been carried out. A comparative analysis of the interpretation of the definition of "public debt" by financiers has been carried out in order to systematize scientific positions on the specified phenomenon and instruments of influence on the factors of its emergence. The originality of this research lies in the proposed conceptual refinement of the semantic nature of the "public debt" category, based on three historically established approaches to its assessment within financial science. The author evaluates the economic definition and proposes key directions for its improvement. It is proven that the chosen mechanism of macrofinancial management in the country depends on the scientific identification of the specified financial phenomenon, which directly affects the legal field, institutional environment and efficiency of management of state financial resources in both the short and long term.