The impact of municipal management on socio-economic development in the Central Aran economic region

This article examines the relationship between municipal management and socio-economic development in the Central Aran economic region of Azerbaijan. The study aims to identify the channels through which the financial, institutional and participatory capacities of local self-government may contribute to territorial development and to propose an indicator-based framework for assessment. Document analysis, comparative analysis, descriptive statistics and indicator-based evaluation are applied using publications of the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan and international literature on local governance and regional development. The study covers Mingachevir city and the Aghdash, Goychay, Kurdamir, Ujar, Yevlakh and Zardab districts. Selected 2024 indicators show that 63.1% of households had a computer, while selected constraints related to food accessibility ranged from 1.3% to 2.4%; grain and leguminous crop production reached 318,817.5 tonnes. These indicators do not establish a causal municipal effect, but they demonstrate the multidimensional context in which local authorities operate. The analysis shows that municipal contribution should be assessed not only by financial resources, but also by institutional capacity, citizen participation, transparency, service accessibility, digitalization and coordination with other levels of government. The paper proposes a six-domain monitoring framework to support evidence-based local development planning in Central Aran.