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Research and educational journal
Published quarterly since 2007
ISSN 1999-5431
E-ISSN 2409-5095
Issue 2023 no1 contents:
THE THEORY AND PRACTICES OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
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7–19
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The article presents data from a survey of employees of private and public organizations to identify the most significant organizational changes that occurred as a result of introducing new digital and non-digital practices, and to evaluate their effectiveness. The results of this survey showed that the pandemic has made significant organizational changes in the work of public and private sector. A digitalization has become one of the main directions of public administration modernization. However, in organizations of the public sector, there seem to be problems with the adaptation of employees to innovations. To overcome them, it is necessary to encourage civil servants to use new technologies, as well as improve the digital competencies of employees.
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20–38
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The article aims the problems faced by state financial control system in Russia. One of them is the duplication of the functions and authorities of the control bodies of the "horizontal" level, which increases both the costs of organizing control and the load on the objects of control. The problems were caused by the lack of synchronization of the digitalization processes of the control and accounting environment, as well as the dominance of identifying committed violations approach, instead of focusing efforts on their prevention. Besides, risk-oriented planning approaches of control activities require improvement. The article contains the assessment of the current state financial control system, based on the analysis of data characterizing the activities of key subjects of state financial control, as well as the analysis of official documents regulating the relevant activities. Based on the analysis, the author formulates proposals to improve the efficiency of state financial control system in Russian Federation.
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39–65
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The article is devoted to the study of challenges and prospects of the reform of territorial organization of local self-government as the problem, which has become relevant in the context of the upcoming new law on local self-government regulation. Recently, some experts have been expressing concerns about the final transition to a homogenous system of local self-government in Russia, which will be expressed in the abolition of urban and rural settlements. The declared goals of the reform, among which there are an increase of budgetary independence and reduction in the cost of local administration maintenance, are criticized, but at the same time there is still a lack of thematical practice-oriented research. Therefore, the study examines actual results of transformation of territorial organization of local self-government in the Moscow region as an example of a region, where all municipalities were granted the status of urban districts before the end of 2019. The study is based on a theoretical framework, which is centered around public choice and economies of scale theories. A hypothesis is drawn that the spread of urban and municipal districts may lead to a decrease in the territorial accessibility of local self-government followed by no reduction in the cost of its maintenance. The pre- and post-reform values of indicators, characterizing territorial accessibility of local self-governments and its services and the volume of expenses connected to local self-government maintenance are compared. Conclusions are drawn about the negative impact of the reform: the availability of local authorities and local services for citizens is declining, while there are no visible budgetary savings due to staff cuts.
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66–88
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This paper aims to study the practice of city branding in small cities and towns, and to identify the characteristics of this process through an expert survey of the heads of city administrations. For this purpose, the expert survey was conducted among the heads of small cities and towns and their deputies in charge of city development issues. The sample consisted of one representative from 33 small cities and towns in Russia. The survey used a questionnaire characterizing city branding objectives, stakeholders involved, decision-making, brand promotion measures, resources and effects. The questionnaire was developed based on the analysis of scientific and practical literature on city branding. As a result, it was revealed that, with some exceptions, branding practice in the studied cities is weakly related to the objectives of city development and has a short-term orientation. The administrations have a tendency to solve branding problems relying solely on their own resources, which leads to city branding resource constraints. These findings contribute to the city branding research by providing data on the implementation of branding practices in small cities and towns. The results also expand the practice of using municipal officials’ expertise in the city branding studies by attracting expert officials to analyse the management practice of city branding process.
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89–119
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The article analyzes the planned estimates of digital maturity indicators from 2022 to 2024 for 82 Russian regions, which are calculated on the basis of regional digital transformation strategies. The indicators are determined by the methodology of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation. Based on these indicators, a planned index of digital maturity was determined for five key industries in each of the regions of Russia under consideration: education, healthcare, public administration, public transport and urban economy. It is shown that the expected rate of digital transformation in different industries will vary significantly. In the regions, there have been identified advanced, medium-high, medium-low and lagging regions in the field of digital transformation for the planned period. Based on the results of the study, the authors recommend creating a comprehensive federal program to help increase the digital maturity index in lagging industries, which will solve the problem of digital transformation imbalance and the problem of lagging regions. For three regions from each category ways are proposed for redistributing resources and capacities to increase the rate of digital transformation in lagging industries from the standpoint of balanced digital transformation, taking into account growth dynamics from 2022 to 2024.
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120–149
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The article discusses interregional differentiation of sales markups of guaranteed (default) electricity suppliers (GESs) for domestic and non-domestic consumers in Russia. Since 2018, GESs tariff regulation was switched to the method of analogues’ comparison, which establishes the yardstick parameters of GESs. The tariff regulation reforming is the part of state policy intended to reduce territorial disparity between sales markups of GESs. The aim of this study is to estimate ranges of interregional differentiation of guaranteed (default) electricity suppliers’ sales markups after the switch to the method of analogues’ comparison. The hypothesis of this study states that the transition to the method of analogues’ comparison has reduced territorial disparity between sales markups of GESs. The study analyses the level ofinterregional differentiation of sales markups of GESs in 2014 – 2022. The oscillation index and the variation index have been calculatedd for the whole country divided by the scales of activity and in groups of guaranteed (default) electricity suppliers. The results of the analysis of the tariff decisions (139 GESs in 76 regions of Russia) show that the interregional disparity between sales markups in the 2-nd half of 2022 has decreased for domestic and non-domestic consumers but remains high due to the limited impact of the method of analogues’ comparison to reduce the territorial disparity between sales markups, which has been innated in its methodology. It is necessary to improve the methodology of analogues’ comparison regulation with regard to GESs and other types of regulated electric power industries.
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150–175
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The article presents the issues of tariff regulation of connections (technological connection) of capital construction objects to the city communal infrastructure. Legislative streamlining of the connection of real estate objects under construction to engineering and technical support systems mainly took place according to the sectoral principle, which led to significant differences in the tariffication of connection to different types of engineering systems. This creates problems both for developers and for the development of the engineering infrastructure of the Russian cities. This study aims at analyzing the current situation in the tariff regulation of connections and finding solutions to the identified problems. As part of the work, a questionnaire survey of the administrations of 102 cities was carried out, in which the values of the established tariffs were clarified, different approaches and bottlenecks of the connection practice were determined. As a result, significant differences are revealed in the adopted methodology of tariff regulation of connections for various types of communal infrastructure, a list of problematic issues have been identified which reduce the predictability of developers' costs for connecting to communal infrastructure and have a negative impact on the spatial development of the Russian cities. Further steps are suggested to improve the existing practice of tariff regulation.
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LITREVIEW
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176–198
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Immunization through vaccination is considered the most effective for the prevention of infectious diseases. There is public hesitation about vaccination; addressing this situation requires effective management strategies from the authorities. Public administrations in many countries use different ways and methods to stimulate the population, including behavioral regulation tools. The use of nudge has shown positive results in many areas and has the potential to be effective in increasing public confidence in vaccination. There are various options for “pushing” citizens to get vaccinated. Which of them are effective? What do the data from experimental studies published in scientific journals indicate? These questions have become central in the present article. To answer them, the authors reviewed studies from Russian and international scientific databases. The analysis of research papers made it possible to combine them into groups depending on the type of Nudge studied in them: “informing, reminding, disclosing information”, “simplifying and facilitating the choice”, “appealing to social norms”. The review found that the use of Nudge had a positive effect on public perceptions of vaccination. At the same time, Nudge tools, applied not only to citizens, but also to medical workers and other stakeholders, have a certain potential. The results of foreign experimental studies on the use of Nudge mechanisms for vaccination of the population may be useful in the development of appropriate interventions that are effective in changing the behavior of citizens, which is timely in the context of an ongoing pandemic.
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199–222
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The purpose of this article is to introduce the smart regulation approach. The approach is one of the main theories for the implementation of government regulation. There are few scientific studies on smart regulation in Russian science, although the study of this approach is developed in world science. Moreover, these Russian research papers are of an applied nature and focus on specific aspects of the approach, often neglecting other. Quite a lot of foreign studies on public administration explore and develop the smart regulation approach. There are those prepared at the stage of approach formation and published quite recently. A review of these studies makes it possible to acquaint the reader with the multifaceted characteristics of the approach, the variety of tools it offers, and the breadth of application of its elements.
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REVIEWS
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