Issue 2014 no4 contents:

Corruptogenicity of legal acts in Russia (the presence of "legal" prerequisites for corruption in them, i.e. corruptogenious factors, is broadly recognized at present as well as the necessity to illuminate it by the official method.

The article analyses the official methods of anticorruption expertise of legal acts and their draft regulations (AE LADR) from the position of the start potential of AE LADR, its start ideas and methods. Those requirements and technologies of overcoming corruptogenicity of LADR that were formulated in the course of expert preparation and approbation of the LADR corruptogenicity overcoming methods but not taken into account while working at the current official method of AE LADR have been systematized. The analysis draws a conclusion that the current AE LADR methods are only methods of a primary expertise of LADR corruptogenicity. To achieve efficiency of AE LADR, the current official methods must be amended: first, by the instruments for overcoming LADR corruptogenicity existing in its composition (but at present ignored by the types of LADR corruptogenicity factors; by the admittance of corruption practices as the reason for identifying corruptogenious factors which support the practices; by the requirements to correct the norms containing corruptogenious factors with the aim of eliminating them); second, with overlapping technologies (methods) to eliminate corruptogenicity of LADR ( including a specialized subject expertise of LADR to reveal corruptogenicity; by the analysis of the corruption practices as applied to LADR).

The article deals with problems related to the lack of a clear definition in the Russian legislation such basic government functions, such as "state control", "state supervision" and "permissive functions". Corresponding concepts are not delimited properly and largely duplicated.

Based on the analysis of the legal framework, governing the control, supervision and licensing, as well as scientific literature, devoted to this problem, the authors have identified the main features and the content of the above concepts.

State and municipal control should be considered as independent system functions of federal and regional executive bodies and local governments, which are indispensable to the processes of public administration and local self-government.

The article formulates proposals for the creation of a complex model of state control, which includes such separate sub-functions of public authorities as: a) implementation of state supervision; b) issuance of a permits; c) holding state expertise, and d) formation of state information resources. Аlso the article listed the proposed principles and methods of state and municipal control.

Expertise, i.e. a system of involving experts and expert organizations, is one of the most important functions of the state control and supervising activity. The purpose of the work is to identify the international trends in using different mechanisms to involve experts and expert organizations within realizing public control and supervising functions; to compare them with the trends in the same field of activity in Russia; to describe the interconnection between the peculiarities of the regulation system adopted in this country and the mechanisms of involving experts.

An investigation was held to analyze the process of performing three functions with the presupposed participation of experts: the regulation of excess to the limited resources by the example of the radio frequency specter; safety food control; control in the field of building–expertise of the project documents. The way these functions are performed in the USA, Germany and Kazakhstan was the subject of the investigation.

Comparison of the international and domestic experience in providing public expertise service within the control and supervision functions, allows to draw a conclusion that the administrative control in Russia is very intensive and the mechanisms of involving sub-agents are more spread as compared to the other mechanisms.

Stakeholders’ engagement is one of the most urgent issues in city branding today. Over the last few years this new part of marketing has made a great way from being optional to becoming obligatory in developing a place brand. Engaging stakeholders is already a well investigated issue in the corporate branding, but the city is a thing of a different nature, so the methods of engagement are also different if compared to business. The city branding needs new approaches relevant to its peculiar features. This work contributes to the new field of branding expertise by proposing the classification of techniques and methods of engaging city brand stakeholders, as well as the ways of estimating their efficiency.

The theoretical part of the article briefly reviews relevant literature on the issue and formulates the basic stakeholders’ engagement principles. Then the author proposes some new theoretical approaches to the topic, develops the classification of engagement methods and their estimation, including quantitative and qualitative indicators that might become the standard for place branding efficiency assessment in case of a wide and successful empirical verifi cation.

The practical part contains a case-study and describes the above-mentioned principles that were applied while developing a city brand for Dobryanka. The determined parameters of engagement classifi cation and evaluation can be used to estimate other cities’ brands, especially the ones of small cities. Besides, the success of Dobryanka branding project allows to develop new approaches of brand acceptance estimation among stakeholders, basing on empirical data.

Verification of the proposed methods by the example of Dobryanka case reveals the possibility of a scientific approach to stakeholders’ engagement in city branding. It also shows the depth and complexity of its implementation. The derived conclusions will be useful for city brand developers and researchers of place branding issues.

There is a number of deficiencies in the current Russian state system of substitution of the increased material and physiological expenditures by civil servants who work in the regions of the Far North or in the areas equated with those in the Far North; who work in the regions of unfavorable climate and ecology; or in the remote regions; or high in the mountains or in the arid deserts. They are related to the coefficients disproportions of the regional regulation of civil servants’ labor payment, which depends on the type of public service, on the absence of a common system of coefficients, salary increase for military men, public servants and servants in the domestic affairs bodies, which compensate their serving in unfavorable conditions; there is no uniform registration of coefficients and rises in salaries of public servants and servicemen which is necessary for calculating the size of their pensions. The analysis of labor legislation on the matter revealed the contradictions in the payment of public servants, servicemen and workers in the home affairs bodies. The main reason for the contradictions is the absence in Russian legislation of the fundamental statutory act on the regional regulation of labor payments to the employees of the offices and companies situated in such regions, the act that would set up a common (uniform) order for granting guarantees and compensations to an appropriate group of people. Thus, the following conclusion may be drawn: it is necessary that a part of legislatively mandated labor regulations in civil service be passed; a new Federal act of law on the pension provision of the citizens of the RF in public service and their families, common for all types of civil service, be developed and passed.