Issue 2016 no5 contents:

The hypothesis of the article is that the basic administrative paradigms (Weberian and neo-Weberian; NPM; New Public Governance) are not capable of providing tools and procedures (sets of administrative mechanisms, attributed to the basic administrative paradigms) for governance which are suitable for overcoming the global administrative crisis. The arguments in support of this hypothesis are outlined according to an analysis of scenarios of using such administrative mechanisms under the conditions of administrative crisis: (a) to use each set of administrative mechanism (or to limit their usage through some “good mechanisms”) in the practice of governance despite their attribution to different basic administrative paradigms; (b) to select the “best” basic administrative paradigm and to only follow this particular vision with recommendations on how to shape the administration and its work.
In the final part of the article the possible principles of a new administrative paradigm that could be relevant to the fast-changing contemporary situation and current instability are discussed.

I argue in this paper that a new paradigm for how leaders should be trained and developed is needed. In the new paradigm, leader development will focus on transforming mindsets more than skillsets. Skills are necessary but not sufficient for leadership. Drawing on the latest discoveries in neuroscience and cognitive science, and the theory of “unlearning” of Otto Rank, I maintain that leaders should be learning how to radically transform their current mental models when they are out-of-date or no longer useful, thereby creating greater capacity for seeing what others cannot see and thinking what others have not yet thought.

The paper represents a complex analysis of public debt as one of the major tools of microeconomic policy, through which a modern state can directly or indirectly affect the condition and development of the national economy.
The analysis results are given for modern concepts explaining how the amount of public debt affects microeconomic development. It is shown that a growing public debt may cause both a positive and a negative effect on microeconomic processes, which makes it possible to reach a conclusion about the contradictory character of debt funding the economy.
The essence and nature of the Russian Federation’s public debt is revealed as an important component of the Russian economy’s operating mechanism at the present time.
The RF public debt dynamics are presented and projected values of its growth are given for the years 2016–2018.
A brief description of the characteristics of RF debt policy is provided. It is noted that one of its objectives for the next few years is the need to adapt to the changing conditions in the external and domestic financial markets.
One hazard of growing public debt is identified given the structural misbalances and external economic shocks, since it may result in a bigger dependence of the national economy on external  and internal borrowings, which, in turn, will provoke additional risks for the development of the Russian economy.
It is shown that in the countries with developing markets, growing public borrowings may cause negative macroeconomic consequences. It is proven that in order to enhance the stimulating effect of public debt on the macroeconomic processes the state needs to develop an efficient debt strategy, which would clearly define the economic boundaries of public debt use.

The article analyzes the concept of political will and the role of the population in the battle with high-level corruption in post-communist Ukraine. We start with the assertion that political will in the battle with corruption is derivative of the character of the interaction between the population and the state, and in particular, to what extent the population adopts a "patron-orientation" to the political leadership of the country and holds them accountable. Accordingly, to analyze the strength and dynamics of political will, we suggest researching the way in which the population views the authorities rather than the personality of political leaders.
We use a multi-disciplinary approach for understanding political will by proposing to look at it as a combination of political "want", "can", and "must" in the battle with corruption. In the methodological part of the paper, we examine quantitative and qualitative approaches to studying political will. We lay out an empirical analysis based on 14 focus groups which were conducted with representatives of various social layers of the population in four Ukrainian cities in May 2015. Analyzing the narratives makes it possible to define empirical indicators, which can be used for researching political will, particularly the age and regional distribution of the participants in the focus groups.

Large-scale migration against the full spectrum of demographic, economic and socio-cultural challenges in Russia highlight the necessity for further reconsideration of the deeply rooted vestiges of traditional models of public administration based on Weber’s theory of rational bureaucracy. Authors argue that the newly forming concept of Good Governance through the implementation of the core principles of the Open Government model – the inclusion principle and the principle of information transparency in government – can be an adequate response to the complexity of the changing reality, i.e., Russia’s current and future challenges.
The authors present an inclusive migration concept – Immigration as Affiliation (H. Motomura) – as complementing the Good Governance concept in the sphere of government migration management. To describe existing effective mechanisms of and existing barriers to this migration concept implementation, sequential analysis is provided both for the sphere of public administration, and public service in Russia.

This paper analyses the recent developments and general direction of migration policy in two former Soviet Union countries – Russia and Tajikistan – from the lens of the current narrative in the field of migration research, paying attention to the economic and demographic reasons for migration, its legal and political framework, and the nascent integration and inclusion programs. While explaining the roots of the existing migration policy, and distinguishing between the migration policies of sending and receiving countries, the paper defines such terms as migration regime, migration mechanisms and migration regulations. The paper concludes that Russian migration policy reflects the inconsistency between the de jure liberal principles/ norms and their de facto restrictive application. The deeply embedded desire to limit an influx of the “Other” in Russia presents a serious threat to migration policy and the future economic development of the country. By contrast, while developing a comprehensive legislation, Tajikistan lacks the political will and resources to monitor its implementation and progressively demand the delivery of the results.

Globalization has been changing the urban landscape rapidly in recent decades. Suburbanization, urban sprawl and intensive migration have transformed former territories with a mix of urban and rural settlements into huge high urbanized regions which play a key role in the development of nation states and macro-regions of the world.
They have also become sites for the concentration of problems such as terrorism, crime, ethnic conflicts, economic disparities, hatred and exclusion, because of their size and magnetism as points of prosperity.
The goal of this article is to show the historical process of agglomeration-building in Europe (e.g. Paris and Berlin), the USA (e.g. Tristate NY) and Russia (e.g. St. Petersburg, Samara – Togliatti Agglomeration) and to explore actual problems of strategic planning in these city-regions. The city-regions are analyzed within the frame of a holistic approach (top – down direction). Large city-agglomerations in Russia are, at present, possible motors of growth and development.The elaboration of strategies for them could be the starting point in the recovery of the economy and society. But the experience in this field is not broad enough to lead to positive and rapid results. This makes a comparative analyses of international examples extremely important for Russian governing bodies and social groups.
In the research we use statistical data – demographic, economic and political – to show the strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities of agglomeration development in the 21st century.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the influence of regionalism on the mechanism of distribution of powers between the levels of authorities within the federal states. The objectives of the research are:
– to identify and classify the different models of distribution of powers in modern federations, based on the examples of Switzerland, Belgium and the Russian Federation;
– to determine the principles of distribution of powers;
– to find the most effective models of distribution of powers;
– to make practical recommendations on distribution of powers for the Russian federal system.
System analysis and comparative analysis methods were widely used as well as a didactic method.
The result of the research: Regionalism determines the particular model of distribution of powers in modern federations; the regions initiate the principles of distribution of powers such as subsidiarity and enhanced cooperation.
Conclusions:
– the modern federal settings demonstrate three models of distribution of powers depending on the role of the regions (constituent units) within the federation;
– the principle of subsidiarity is proved to form the basis for the most effective models of distribution of powers in modern federations;
– the agreements between the constituent units of federations and the federal center and the units are the result of implementation of the principle of enhanced cooperation.

The systems of public administration in the national republics have one significant difference when compared with other types of regional subjects ("oblast" or "kray") in the Russian Federation. These systems have governmental media (state media) founded by public authorities and these media outlets’ assets are in the ownership of these authorities. It gives a certain originality to both the national republics’ and Russia’s administrative practices and mass media functioning. It is common for experts to criticize the national republics’ public administrations for withdrawal from the libertarian model, but most often, this critical thinking does not clarify the reasons which could have looked "positive" from the libertarian perspective. These reasons are the major factor in making public authorities maintain state media.
The paper aims to synthesize the practice of governmental administration of mass media in the national republics and explicate the administration model by considering the example of Buryatia. The authors give their own definition to the concept of "state media"; identify public authorities’ and mass media’s interaction principles as well as institutional specifics of mass media’s functioning in the national subjects of Russia. The authors argue that state media’s functioning is justified. Being a political institution, state media experience a serious impact of various social factors including political, economic and legal ones. In the process of political management, their interference provides the mass media with a resource potential.
The state mass media in Buryatia is founded by its government and operates under the supervision of a special body in the Administration of the Head and the Government of the Republic of Buryatia. In practice, this body is an operator and manager of the mass media industry and it possesses all the resources it needs, including financial, to run the industry. All the state media outlets have been joined into "Buryaad Unen Publishing House", a state autonomous institution. It provides state services via the implementation of particular functions. One of these functions is conducting the state politics and policy that is the consequence of the political forces ratio on the regional and federal levels. The other functions include legitimization of law, publicizing activities of public authorities, and preservation and development of the national language (the Buryat peoples’ language). The latter state media function is of major importance in the national re publics.
The research approach is an environmental sociological analysis studying the influence of various social factors which are making an impact on the choice of government mechanisms for administering state media. For analysis of various aspects of state mass media’s transformation into a social subject of policy, the authors combine sociological with institutional and discourse research methods.