Vol. 28 No. 2 (2026)

The digitalization of public administration has resulted in an increase in cyber dangers; nevertheless, current approaches to risk management remain fragmented and do not allow for systematic supervision. A thorough examination of Russian and international studies and reviews in the field of cybersecurity has allowed us to organize the current cyber risks facing the state, develop a basic framework for managing them, and create a unified digital system for internal control and risk management, which can serve as the foundation for a nationwide cybersecurity system. This system can provide real-time cyber threat monitoring, automate decision-making, and enhance the overall resilience of government systems. Future research on adaptive cybersecurity systems can use the study’s findings as a theoretical and methodological basis. The conclusions can also be used by businesses that need to safeguard vital information infrastructure and by government organizations developing cybersecurity initiatives.

The study highlights the importance of creating thorough instruments for comparing the efficacy of regional innovation policies, a subject that is especially pertinent when incorporating new regions into national economic spaces. The author proposes the formalization index for the intellectual property support. This specific composite indicator aggregates key parameters of the institutional environment, including the existence of specialized legislation, subsidy programs, infrastructure (such as the Center for the Promotion of Intellectual Property), and agreements with the federal authority (Rospatent). The index was tested using six regions of Russia with different levels of innovation development, as well as the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The study conducted a correlation analysis to examine the relationship between the formalization index and the innovation activity coefficient. The results revealed a strong positive correlation (r = +0.72) along with a threshold effect. A significant increase in innovation activity was observed when the formalization index surpassed a value of 0.6. The author identified an «institutional paradox» in the Donetsk People’s Republic: scientific potential exists alongside an extremely low level of institutional support and, subsequently, commercialization. The formalization index is proposed as a valuable instrument for identifying problem areas and developing targeted regional policy measures.

In light of the Russian Federation’s new Spatial Development Strategy, the article explores the challenges associated with institutional reform of the spatial planning and urban zoning documents (SPUZ) system. This system is examined as a collection of formal institutions intended to reduce transaction costs, based on the study’s neo-institutional approach. The author identifies three key imbalances in the system: inconsistencies among strategic, spatial, and urban zoning plans; the limited adaptability of these plans; and the resulting high costs for businesses and citizens. The paper demonstrates the necessity of a targeted transformation of the system based on an analysis of domestic practices (including empirical data on changes to documents) and relevant international experience with cascading models and digital platforms. The author focuses on the role of the master plan as a new strategic instrument. The findings allow us to make specific recommendations for harmonizing and digitally modernizing the SPUZ documentation system. These recommendations are structured around short-, medium-, and long-term timeframes, aiming to enhance the system’s effectiveness as a key instrument of state spatial policy. The use of artificial intelligence tools for creating predictive models of spatial development scenarios and evaluating investment risks will enable a shift from a reactive approach to addressing existing conflicts to a proactive approach to managing spatial development.

The article examines the system of state support for innovation activity in Russian regions as a key instrument for strategic innovation management. The research is based on an analysis of statistical data from 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation for the period 2020-2025. The author proposes an integrated model for optimizing the system of state support for innovation, incorporating the unique features of regional innovation systems and the requirements of sustainable development. The article identifies the main barriers to effectiveness: insufficient coordination between federal and regional support measures (70 % of regions), low utilization of innovation infrastructure (47% of technoparks operate below full capacity), and weak linkages between science and business (only 23 % of small innovative enterprises actively collaborate with universities). The findings provide a foundation for the development of a system of measures to transform the mechanisms of state support. This system of measures is expected to increase the innovation activity of organizations by 15-20 % and raise the share of innovative products in regional gross product to 25-30 %.

The article explores the far-reaching integration of AI into the Russian economy, the potential benefits for the country, and the obstacles that come with this integration. The article provides a sector-by-sector analysis of the potential for implementing AI in the Russian economy. Based on a study of Russian practices, the author identifies the qualitative effects of integrating AI. The study identified and categorized several socio-technological challenges that are specific to the context of digitalizing the national economy. The article focuses particularly on the prospects for implementing artificial intelligence in the public services sector. The study also included a sociological survey to identify the public services using AI that are most important to the population. The survey looked at the prospects for expanding its integration, the associated risks, and the most successful examples of AI implementation in this field. The data obtained has indicated potential areas for further integration of artificial intelligence into the public administration sector.

The article examines the notion of the region-culture as an integral component of the state-civilization system, with the Russian Federation serving as a case of study. The author utilizes the civilizational approach (S. Huntington, A. Toynbee) and offers a critique of O. Spengler’s pessimistic perspective, contending that Russian civilization is founded not on unification but on the synthesis of the numerous unique cultural worlds of its constituent groups. The civilizationalist approach is often associated with accusations of primordialism and reification. The term «region-culture» is proposed to counter these accusations by emphasizing the processual nature of cultural development and its political significance for the sustainability of civilization as a whole. The author employs the pentabasis model as a methodological instrument to analyze region-culture. The Republic of Tatarstan serves as a region-culture that exemplifies this model, illustrating how it allows for a harmonious blend of regional identity and pan-Russian civic values.

Liberalism as a political doctrine has influenced the modern model of globalization, its essence and framework, and has contributed to the transformation of the global order and its present turbulence. The article seeks to explain how, contrary to expectations, the collapse of the bipolar world has led to the triumph of the liberal-democratic model, which has resulted in governmental dysfunction, a decline in democratic institutions, and a decrease in pluralism within the political sphere and the modern media landscape. The author provides a thorough theoretical analysis and examines specific examples from different countries to explore the evolution of liberalism. The paper references instances of the de-liberalization of political decision-making processes and the influence of mass media and social media in Western countries. Western media often portray the erosion of democracy as a global crisis, leading many countries, such as Hungary, a small nation with significant international influence, toward authoritarianism. This crisis weakens state institutions and leaves information ecosystems, both national and global, highly vulnerable to manipulation. Concurrently, social networking platforms can significantly contribute to the erosion of democracy, facilitating the rapid propagation of political information and disinformation, and tailoring content to particular groups of people based on their interests. The author explains the nature of democratic liberalism and its fundamental principles. The article also identifies the criteria for distorting liberal ideas and examines the practice of neglecting the doctrinal principles established during the Enlightenment era.

The article draws the attention of specialists working in the information and analytical structures of public administration to the need to revise the methodological framework supporting political and managerial decision-making in the context of an emerging post-liberal society grounded in conservative principles. Analytical and predictive models are effective in economic and socio-political environments governed by managerialism. However, they lose their relevance in new circumstances arising from uncertainty in politics, economics, and psychology, as well as qualitative changes in the state-citizen information and communication space. Objective reality has undergone deliberate transformations under the influence of postmodernism and liberalism, through a range of simulations, from simulacra to post-truth. The phenomenon of power is being dismantled in multiple ways. Not only are its structural and functional ties being severed, but its genetic ties are also being broken down. The search for governance models in the context of the «new normal» has not yet yielded any significant breakthroughs. At the same time, there is a pressing need to revisit the analytical legacy of the pre-postmodern era, which contains models with innovative components that anticipated future distortions in governance processes. Among such conceptual constructs is the normative-optimal model developed by the prominent management theorist Yehezkel Dror.

The article investigates the origins and evolution of pronatalist demographic policy in contemporary Russia. The authors analyzed three time periods: 1990-1999, 2000-2009, and 2010-present. The authors base their methodology on an analysis of three groups of demographic policy parameters: the extent to which policymakers implement policies; the socio-demographic groups that policymakers target with these policies; and the specific features of the implementation of demographic policy measures. The research divides such policies into three categories: those targeted at lowering the number of abortions, promoting a pro-family philosophy, and assisting working parents. The authors conclude that it is critical to regularly evaluate the success of established measures, perform predictive evaluations of future initiatives, and emphasize the significance of such studies at the regional and local levels, given varying circumstances.

Interest in the concept of the social contract has grown significantly in recent years. The article reviews Zh.T. Toshchenko’s foundational monograph, which provides an indepth examination of the development of this institution in Russia. Toshchenko’s book examines the history of the social contract concept and its application in Russia. The text explores the core characteristics of the social contract, its essential meaning, and its practical importance for maintaining a balance of social interests while achieving the strategic objectives of state-building and overall social development. The article addresses the need to update the current social contract in view of contemporary political and economic circumstances.

The authors’ analysis of recent international publications on the theoretical aspects of assessing guidance and support for the professional development of state and municipal employees (including organizational forms of such development) led them to conclude that professional development guidance can be characterized as a threetiered architecture. This allows the authors to view support for the professional development of state and municipal employees as part of a clientcentered approach to human resources management. To implement this evaluation methodology in the practice of public service, it is important to establish it through regulations, roles, and responsibilities.

The article examines the challenges of establishing and retaining a sustainable reserve of young talent within the civil service system in the border region of Kursk Oblast. The authors contend that higher education efficiency benefits when students’ knowledge and abilities are transformed into enduring professional and personal qualities. Additionally, they argue that acquiring supraprofessional competencies enhances the efficacy of young managers’ work and facilitates their job adaptation. The study explores the activities of the Competence Center, an institution operating under the Kursk Academy of State and Municipal Service that addresses this issue. The study’s findings underscore the importance of creating a specialized database for employers based on students’ supraprofessional competency assessments. The selection of young professionals to meet the specific needs of government agencies and organizations is made possible by individualized student profiles. The Competence Center’s initiatives facilitate forming a reserve of young talent in the region and provide the institutional framework for identifying and encouraging future specialists’ professional potential.

The article discusses the history and current characteristics of the state administration of Islam in Indonesia. The Ministry of Religious Affairs plays a key role in this system. This is the first time that Russian historiography has analyzed the stages of the ministry’s history, its transformation in 2025, and the department’s structural organization and functions. The establishment of the ministry marked a compromise between secular nationalists and their former Muslim allies. The former agreed to its establishment because they feared the strengthening and sovereignty of the Muslim community (ummah) in Indonesia. Currently, the Ministry oversees the primary activities of religious groups and communities throughout the country. The agency exercises administrative and financial control over the activities of the Indonesian Ummah, thereby ensuring the instrumentalization of Islam. Its activities are also aimed at deradicalizing Islam and promoting the concept of «Islam Nusantara». The author concludes that the bureaucratization of Islamic government in modern Indonesia has progressive meaning, as it reduces the radicals’ position and influence.