Issue 2009 no3 contents:

The article considers the current international experience in applying the private public partnership for solving relevant space activities tasks in the fields of space navigation, Earth remote sensing, and fundamental space research. The main directions and limitations are described as these models are to be applied for Russia’s space activity development. The recommendations are provided on avoiding the institutional traps associated with the direct government participation in the market activities of high commercial potential.

The paper presents a brief overview of theoretical and empirical literature on collusion in public procurement. We discuss the main economic models of collusion, the impact of market factors on the appearance and sustainability of collusion, and the ways of hindering collusion in the public procurement through different stages of the procurement cycle. We also describe the main empirical and econometric models of detecting and classifying collusion in the public procurement.

A new approach to understanding the classical conceptions of the public finance theory is closely connected with looking for ways out of the present world financial crisis. Scientific ideas of the outstanding German scientists A. Wagner (1835-1917) are of prior importance in this process. The Wagner’s law and his conception of fiscal economy can well become a means of knowing the current finance and economic processes. This article focuses on the nature of fiscal economy and its characteristic features. Wagner’s original view of the tax principles and taxation conditions is a constituent part of his fiscal economy conception. His discovering not only a fiscal but also a social function of taxation was a breakthrough in this field at his time and remains topical at present. To Wagner fairness levying taxes was of great importance in order to understand the principles of efficient taxation. After analyzing the methods and theoretical foundations of the formulation of the Wagner’s law we were able to discover the causes and essence of the law. This article besides the formulation of the Wagner’s law, deals with the experience of testing its first and second version on various statistics materials of  different countries. Investigating the peculiar ways of reasoning and formulating the Wagner’s law, defining the approaches to test it on the empirical material gives an opportunity for further scientific research of the current problems in the public finances.

The article is devoted to the problems of inter-budgetary relations at a municipal level. The best municipal region in this respect is Surgut of HantyMansiysk Autonomous District, which was chosen to observe the inter-budgetary relations. Observance and analyses of the situation there showed that taxes which make up the local budgets had been reduced groundlessly. The article holds that the budget regulation which provides that a part of the finances should be returned to the municipal regions as subsidies, subventions, and financing  mission-oriented projects, is, essentially, a sort of mechanism for the state authorities to press local administration economically, contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, with both social and economic negative consequences ensuing. The article has suggestions and recommendations how municipal inter-budgetary relationship be improved.

The article analyzes the constitutional-legal aspects of maintenance of the right to private ownership of land lots. It introduces a circle of  subjects of the right to private ownership of land lots - citizens and their associations. It ensues from the analysis of practice of the Constitutional court of Russia, that the concept of “citizens” does not eliminate foreigners and eupatrids. The authors come to the conclusion, that according to article 36 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation  it is necessary to understand  by the object of the right to private ownership  land lot, rather than the earth.

The article deals with the current issues of the state participation in joint stock taking into account the latest transformations. First of all the article looks at economic forms and legal mechanisms of managing the state’s blocks of shares and joint stock companies with state participation in general. Special attention is paid to the legal status of joint stock companies with indirect state participation which are becoming more common in connection with the new wave of capital concentration (establishing new state corporations and vertically integrated holding companies). On the other hand, the article analyzes the specific features of joint stock companies with 100% state participation.

This article is prepared under the aegis of Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT). The article deals with citizens’ participation in government. The questions to be analyzed: citizens’ participation goals, forms, problems of organization; Canadian experience of citizens’ participation in government. The author researches the possibility of Russia to move from informing citizens and public consultations to citizens’ participation in government and a dialogue between the authorities and public.

It is since 1998 that the Republic of Korea has been reforming its system of public administration. The author’s investigation of the processes of the reform and of the legislation which are of importance for understanding these processes, have resulted in writing the article. The conclusion, which the author comes to, is that the Republic’s measures, taken to report on the public administration system, seek to get the system work more efficiently, with maintaining costs reduction at the same time.

The article reviews some new forms of public-private partnerships in the infrastructure that has received a stimulus in Japan in recent years. Specifically, the system of «authorized managers» which has become one of the most demanded models of PPP is being examined in detail. The «admittance» of private business to the management of state property objects is considered to be an effective tool to upgrade the level of services provided to the people, to cut the costs and to stimulate economic activities. The spectrum of spheres, the system of «authorized managers» is introduced to, is quite broad and includes municipal housing construction, management of various state objects – sport grounds, culture facilities, libraries, museums, parks, parking lots, etc. Success stories of this kind of PPP’s are exemplified, as well as problems and weaknesses of the system are analyzed scrupulously. The author draws a conclusion that the utilization of the «contract management» system in the infrastructure in Japan will not only proceed smoothly but will also expand in scale in the near future.