Issue 2012 no4 contents:

Public-private partnership is often viewed as a form of the state interaction and business, which makes it possible to study features of such an interaction, but questions its optimal effectiveness. The authors consider PPP as a form of business organization too and they show that PPP has advantages in producing public goods over private, state and a number of other organizations of mixed forms.  

The main outcomes: the main problems of interaction of the state and a private partner include imperfection of the contracts, division of the risk problem, lack of coordination of information flows and goals. The contracts display their gaps and mistakes in the course of implementing the project, so two sides are needed to correct them. They can also be a cause of the project realization delay, and this make projects with a fixed duration less profitable: the shorter the time for the implementation of the project, the more acute is the problem. Reduction of the project deadline is hardly profitable for the municipality as well, because it is pushing the partner for a rapid inefficient solution to the rising problem. Most of the business risks rest with the private partner.

 Conclusions: cooperation based on the partnership principle stimulates protection of the contracting party, thus solving the problem of contracts imperfection, as the sides make decisions on the rising problems together. The state, keeping to the partnership principle, creates stimuli for private business to join the common goals. Better protection against the risks provides their separation in the frames of partnership. The pooling of resources encourages implementation of projects, exchange of information and co-production.

While sharing the view that an effective organization of the system of state control and supervision  is the key to successful development of the country’s economy, the author singles out involving independent experts as one of the most important points of the regulatory activity.

The purpose of the article is to develop the algorithm of choosing experts and expert organizations on the basis of key provisions of the neo-institutional economic theory; to make comprehensive proposals on improving the system of involving experts and expert organizations in the realization of the control and supervision functions in Russia.

The results of the survey of 24 experts in the field of control and supervision are presented in the article. The survey was held in the framework of the given research. Analysis of the regulations (fixed time-limits) of the control-supervision functions allows to identify the main practices of interaction between expert organizations, bodies of power, claimants; the main problems in this field  such as the opacity of pricing for services of experts; weak competition, conditioned by artificial limitations on the market access; extended participation in expert work of subordinate organizations; absence of mechanisms to ensure independence of the organizations examined  and the expert organizations invited.

Conclusions: the algorithm will make it possible to apply more substantiated, from   point of view of economic theory, models of inviting experts on the basis of analysis of the function parameters, in the framework of which involvement of experts and expert organizations is carried out. Competition will bring about price reduction for expert service, and thus   carrying out an expert examination will cost the state and business organizations cheaper.    

The article deals with questions of the market faults in the formation of supply and demand of housing in Russia’s economy. The author, believing that housing affordability is a special feature of the State’s economic set-up, proposes solution of the housing problem by creating a children home insurance savings institute.

The main imperfection of the housing market in the RF, according to the author, is in setting the balance at the level of solvent demand in the global mismatch between the solvent demand and its potential (social) value. Such a balance is accompanied by the effect of incomplete contracts, when inadequate wellbeing can hardly afford all possible contracts at the real estate market. In this case the state has to make up for a part of potential contracts at its own expense through various programs. However, most contracts still remain to be made.

Expected result: the long-term consequences of the introduction of home insurance would be a drastically reduced demand for housing purchase outside insurance; remains a limited demand for the luxury housing and the middle class housing for the citizens who have not fallen into the category of insured persons by age or because of foreign citizenship; a sharply reduced demand for rental; there will be no demand for purchase of housing for speculation and rent; mortgage, likely, will have a limited application.

The possibility to develop democratic participation of citizens in public administration is singled out by the researchers as one of the advantages of the Internet development. Basing on data from an international study and surveying of young people-citizens of Russia, the article analyses different factors that prevent and promote increasing e-participation in Russia.

The purpose of the article was to study the potential of e-participation in increasing the involvement of the public in decision-making processes with taking into account the current political situation and the historical heritage. The authors approached the problem after having studied the capacity both of the projects of e-participation, initiated by the RF government, and of the public activity in the internet to overcome social indifference and encourage forming the tradition of political awareness and participation. Study of the main factors of Russia’s internet-activity that affect an individual’s motivation to social  participation, gives grounds to conclude that the lack of formal instruments of political participation, along with the availability of material and intellectual resources, and more importantly, the violated interests, play an  important role in motivating people to take an active civil position. Training people in political participation is also very important. Democracy practice is the only way to make the tradition of political awareness and participation, and opportunities for it are given by the internet space which makes it possible to use different methods of political participation.

Conclusion: instruments of e-democracy have the potential to overcome the factors (they were revealed during the survey) that restrain public participation of respondents.

Monitoring the quality and availability of public and municipal services is a very important stage in the development of the whole system of public services in the Russian Federation. The article considers modern methods of the organization of monitoring public services as a process of interaction between the consumer and the bodies of public administration in the RF and abroad, along with the theoretical approaches to the problem of public services quality. It describes some special features of presenting results of the analysis of the public services system in Russia on the example of monitoring conducted by experts of the Institute of Public and Municipal Administration, Scientific Research University, Higher School of Economics, in 2010. A set of criteria for a periodical selection of public administration services in the next monitoring researches was formulated. The main criteria for services are: mass character, social significance, economic feasibility, the multiplicity of channels, necessity to organize a cross-agency collaboration to provide these services. The value of monitoring is determined by the possibility to reveal problems and give recommendation on solving them at all stages of providing services –from coming up with the initiative to obtaining the result. Results of the monitoring of public services in Russia, presented in the form of the services management profile, enable the federal and municipal bodies of power to see the whole picture of providing services and assess their effectiveness. The indicators of public services quality used in the monitoring – the time of getting services, comfort, the level of satisfaction with the result, were approved of by the supreme bodies of power and have become the basis for the formation of the system development policy. In conclusion the article suggests some trends for further improvement of public services provision in the Russian Federation.

In the course of the reform of public and municipal administration bodies of power were to make lists of public services which were to become the basis for the formation of governmental guidelines and a normative of costs. The article studied some departmental lists of public services placed on the internet by the Federal bodies of executive power. The authors were only able to analyze data on 38 departments out of 57 Federal bodies of executive power. They found that the number of public services and work declared on the departmental lists varies from a few units to over 100. One of the sources of such diversity was the desire to work with minimum losses on clarifying the charters of institutions when they change their status from a state institution to a budget, autonomous or bureaucratic one. Just not to change the charters, the bodies of power transferred their formulations onto departmental lists without detecting non-executable or improperly worded services.

Suggestions and recommendations: the RF government should organize more energetic and hard work, aimed at revising the normative-legal regulation formed by departments in developing Act № 83-Ф3, and at assessing its practical results. It also concerns the departmental lists.  A methodological unity of work and services structure will make it possible to form a reference book similar to the one related to services for citizens, to make comparisons and take measures on the optimal costing.   

The article substantiates the concept of creating a system of indices (including both integral ones and indices of many parameters), which reflect the level of citizens’ trust in the activity of civil servants. The integral index of trust is calculated as an arithmetical average of the generalized trust index and the index of the personal trust measure. The multi-parameter index is based on the results of research by some well known sociologists (E. Ghiddens, F. Fukuyama, P. Shtompki, etc.) The many parameter index of trust consists of two complementary sub-indices: structure conditions and justified expectations. The sets of parameters are grounded and characterized; the formulas of their calculation are provided. Data collection for calculating trust indices was held by the National polling in 2011 on the adult people sample. A questionnaire was made up to poll the people and estimate their trust in three kinds of civil servants (from military, public service and law-enforcing and protecting bodies).The article gives the results of the poll.

The article presents an analysis of the intermediate results of the pilot project on the private health care development at the level of first-aid medical posts. The project is being realized in the region of Perm. The initial goal of the experiment was to solve the problem of creating a competitive environment in the health care sphere in Russia and the ultimate one was to improve the quality of medical service and the health of population.

Case study of 12 private medical practices in January-March 2012 identified the following problems: low rates in the system of CMI; loss of benefits; difficulties in accounting and reporting; the heavy workload and the shortage of staff; the high cost of the equipment; a negative attitude of the local population; penalty sanctions as a result of the audit bodies’ inspections.

Conclusion: the initial hypothesis, that the participants of the project have leadership skills, the propensity to risk and strategic vision, has not been confirmed, since  many of them had to take part in the project. It has been found that those medical organizations that are located on the territories with big population, with working people prevailing, and, consequently, with a lot of children, have the best perspectives for development. Close contacts with the hospital management and local authorities increase chances for them to survive and develop.

In conclusion the article gives recommendations for strengthening the financial stability of private medical practices, for motivating doctors-entrepreneurs and for solving the staff problem.  

Administrative institutions often have important implications for the allocation of scarce resources. To some extent, therefore, they reflect the interests of those who have a stake in policy implementation. Although scholars have devoted increased attention to this fact, current theories that seek to explain bureaucratic structure as a reflection of politics are severely limited in range. In addition, they provide little insight as to the kinds of interests that underlie specific institutional arrangements. Future research should seek to identify contextual variables that condition institutional choice within the administrative process.

The article performs a comparative analysis of the structural elements of civil servants’ salaries in foreign countries and in the RF. The author studied typical payments of civil servants in the international practice; identified the size and the ratio between the fixed and variable portions of pay.

Analysis of the international practice reveals that the presence of   bonus payments in the structure of remuneration for work results of civil servants is of a great stimulating importance: the bigger and the less secure is the proportion of successful payment, the more civil servants’ work focuses on the fulfillment of the set tasks and goals, the achievement of the performance indicators.

In comparing with the RF civil service payment structure, the author finds that no foreign countries analyzed have such a low share of bonus payment as in the RF: the ratio 86-11-3% (salary and most additional payments, allowance for special conditions of the civil service; award /bonus for especially important and complex tasks) makes it impossible to carry out effective stimulation of state civil servants. The lack of interest of public officials in the performance of their work and very low quality of their work are due to this situation in the payment structure, since the well-done work and formal execution of official duties are awarded equally, the level of bonus remains the same.     

The article focuses on experience of the Perm City Administration in solving the problem of availability and quality of preschool education by developing competitive environment. The author presents the current models of financial support for providers and receivers of preschool services, particularly payment of the family-related bonus for children who don't visit nursery schools, as well as subsidy assistance for non-state educational establishments. The article also describes the mechanism of delegation of municipal assets to private investors for the purpose of preschool establishments recovery. The described practice resulted in prompt resolution of the problem of preschool education availability and in development of sole proprietors network and non-municipal nursery schools.

The article presents a new approach to understanding and evaluating effectiveness of the public service, with it being considered as a reflexive system which can adequately respond to external and internal signals and change its conduct accordingly. As for effectiveness, it is the system’s ability to carry out its predestination. The conclusion is that the system can’t work effectively without sufficient reflexivity (it is very low in Russia), so it is necessary to increase reflexivity of the public service. This can be done by taking such measures that will cause the apparatus resistance which in its turn will stimulate internal reflection, or by cultivating self-reflection practices. Public service makes technological (not political) decisions and unlike political powers cannot make rules which they will have to comply with in their activity. This means that the only available expression of reflection on it is due to the reflective affect of a system selection of certain practices. Consequently, stimulating the system to select the most effective practices for it means the growth of its reflexivity, which in its turn will start the mechanisms of effectiveness working from inside. Along with that the incentives should be such that authorities could implement them by themselves without the active involvement of political leadership. It also means that the authorities should be aware of the current political course for increasing effectiveness of the public service.   

Territory branding has been widely spread recently and attracted attention numerous researchers who want to look insight its content composition, methodology and practice of its system usage. The purpose of this article is to show opportunities for religious tourism, to build the brand in the region, to identify problem areas of branding in the region, to chart the future directions of its development.

Analysis of the opportunities for religious tourism showed, what we have to learn today is how to manipulate tourists’ impressions. We need to publish and circulate a lot of free brochures about history and legends of the region, maps and guidebooks to places of religious and cultural event tourism; to organize a tourist transport service system with the help of transport maps,  etc. The author believes that to manage marketing of the territory affectively, a planning group should be created in each municipality which will include state, regional, municipal officials, external consultants and representatives of local businesses.  Cooperative work of the government and business in planning development and promotion of a territory can be the key to future success of the state and private partnership which is being so much spoken about nowadays.