Vol. 19 No. 6 (2017)

The article discusses the features of the term ‘bureaucracy' in the context of related concepts - ‘state civil service (employees)', ‘officials', ‘the state apparatus'. Negative-evaluative meaning, embedded in the term ‘bureaucracy', prevented the study of the corresponding complex of phenomena for a long time, ignored the role of bureaucracy as a necessary component of the mechanism of the state and as a social institution. This influence was most noticeable in relation to the theory of the state civil service. In the West the partial rehabilitation of the concept of bureaucracy began in the mid-nineteenth century. This was facilitated by attempts to provide a reasoned distinction between political and public-administrative activities in order to rationalize public administration. Within the framework of this process, M. Weber constructed a model of an ideal bureaucracy. Simultaneously, a similarity between bureaucratic apparatuses ensuring the performance of state functions in both ancient and modern states, indicating under certain conditions the invariance of the given organizational model, was noted. In the twentieth century the bureaucracy was studied from the standpoint of systems theory and sociology. In Russia, the concept of bureaucracy up to the present time has had almost exclusively negative connotations. The absence of the theoretical consensus in the foreign and domestic science dealing with the delineation of the negative meaning of the term as a defect in the management mechanism and its neutral significance as a universal management mechanism and social institution continues to serve as an obstacle for the construction of a modern theory of the state civil service. Based on the results of the article, a research program is proposed in three basic areas: the general theory of bureaucracy, the mechanisms for transforming bureaucracy within the framework of various organizational cultures, the forms and patterns of negative inversion of the bureaucracy and the mechanisms for countering them.

The modernization of the Russian system of the public administration during the previous stages of the administrative reform was carried out in the framework of a functional approach. The rules of execution of the state functions and the provision of the public services were developed from this perspective. A significant part of the activities of the state bodies, in fact, is of a process nature. However, it is not structured to the level of algorithms, it is poorly described and in practice it can't be implemented in such a format: the regulations do not contain the necessary information and often represent the content of the activity (which they should regulate) in a distorted form. The quality of the activities in such case is difficult to assess and virtually impossible to manage. As part of the reforms of the Russian public administration system, the process has never been considered as an object of management, nor have the attempts been made to optimize it.

The article reflects on the main tasks set in the guidance documents of the Russian state to improve the system of personnel maintenance for Municipal Service. On the basis of comparative legal analysis of legislation of the subjects of the Russian Federation the main tasks of the modern period in the organization of personnel work in the municipalities are disclosed. The priority areas for the formation of the cadre of the Municipal Service are outlined. The problem of regulation in the sphere of Municipal Service is described alongside with examples of municipal legislative acts regulating Municipal Service issues. The author considers aspects of legal regulation for personnel reserve issues and the creation of mentoring institute in the sphere of Municipal Service, and analyzes possible problems and ways to solve them. In conclusion there have been proposals formulated for improving the organization and staffing of the Municipal Service. Increasing the efficiency of using the human resources potential of the state and municipal service is one of the factors for strengthening the modern Russian statehood, an actual tool for efficient implementation of the tasks and functions of state authorities and local self-government

The public corporation is used in all modern legal systems. It has been the used form for more than one century in the USA and Western Europe in wide range of different spheres. In Russia public corporations were established for achievement of public goals. However, during their existence the state corporations have generated a significant number of both theoretical and practical issues relating to their legal registration, status and activities. The outcome of this uncertainty was the need for a revised approach to the establishment and functioning of state corporations. The futility of their existence was emphasized at the highest level including the President of the country in 2009. So, it was concluded that it was necessary to terminate their activities. The corporations, the timeframes of which were determined by the law, required liquidation. The corporations working in the commercial, competitive environment were transformed into joint-stock companies controlled by the state. In foreign practice, state corporations are often initially created as a transitional form for private corporations and demonstrate their effectiveness and necessary assets. A joint-stock company as a form of transformation of the state corporation looks most attractive from the point of view of the transparency of its future activities. The specifics of the approach to the reorganization of public corporations is largely due to the essential peculiarity of the Russian model of such legal entities. Emphasis should be put on the problem of acquisition of non-core assets by such corporations, as well as curbing illegal practices for gaining competitive advantage in commodity markets.

In the review of new publications devoted to the study of the revolution in Russia in 1917, the author identifies the main themes that were in the center of attention of historians, philosophers and sociologists: the definition of the concept of ‘revolution' and its philosophical comprehension; restoration of the chronicle of revolutionary events; the analysis of the reaction of different social strata to the uprising of the masses; the activity of the ‘leaders' of the revolution. The author also dwells on the in-depth analysis of such problems as the periodization of revolutionary events, theoretical approaches to the evaluation of mass demonstrations, and the role of leaders of the uprising. It is emphasized that there is no single understanding of the events of the past in Russian society today, and this is shown in the published books. Many of them attempt to connect the origins of the revolution with earlier events in the Russian Empire: the tragedy of Khodynka, the expectations of the society for changes in 1900, the First Russian Revolution of 1905, the First World War. Similarly, historians and philosophers see and evaluate the end of the revolutionary process in different ways. In contrast to the classics of Marxism-Leninism, some modern researchers see the main driving force of the revolution in the peasantry - its fundamental interests were determined by the protest, but the peasantry, as a result, less than all other strata, benefited from the revolution. The author also identified the problems that were not reflected in the modern publications. In author's opinion, the problems of construction of the social structure of the population of the established elites using various, mostly violent, methods to suppress the dissenters, have not been studied yet.

The level of innovative development of the country in the information age is largely determined by the institutional mechanisms based on knowledge and ensuring the effective implementation of market relations. The formation of such mechanisms is the most important task for public authorities and management. State policy should stimulate the emergence of new economic institutions, enhance the effectiveness of political structures, support social organizations and enhance the activities of science, education and culture. The generalization of world experience shows that under the conditions of globalization a competitive advantage is enjoyed by those who, on a par with scientific and technological successes, can use the most effective mechanisms of innovation activity and develop a system based on knowledge infrastructure. The development of knowledge industry, the active penetration of information technologies into all spheres of society's life offers colossal opportunities for humanity. However, at the same time, new problems appear and require solutions at the state level.

In order to assess the legitimacy, usefulness, and scale of the industrial policy pursued by the world's leading countries, a more precise understanding of the content, subjects, objects, main tasks, directions, mechanisms for the development and implementation of industrial policy, and its qualitative resource content is necessary.The author of this article defines the object of industrial policy. He points out that different point of view on this issue is expressed by experts, including the denial of a particular industrial object since industrial transformation under modern conditions undergoes all components of the national economy, all spheres of human activity. This argument is justified and confirmed by practice. But everything that is connected with the innovative industrial renewal of all components of the economic system, all spheres of human activity, is reproduced mainly in the industrial sphere, consisting of a set of interconnected industries interacting through a complex network of reproductive processes. This is confirmed by interbranch grocery balances. Industrial policy is naturally concerned with the promotion of industrial products and services in all components of the economy and the sphere of human life. But these components and spheres are not objects of industrial policy. The analysis of the activities of the international development institutions of the OECD and UNIDO shows that they consider industrial policy in national economies primarily as the state's actions to improve the business environment, to change the structure of the economy, to update priority sectors, activities that promote high-quality economic growth and change well-being of people.

The article analyzes statistical data characterizing demographic trends in the dynamics of changes in the childrens' population, the able-bodied population and the population of retirement age. The authors consider some trends for changes in the number and structure of the Russian population and their impact on the consumption of socially important services. Peak indicators of various years are considered along with negative statistics. Parallels are drawn between the statistical data of different periods; forecasts based on the number of the population groups in question are outlined. The dynamics of population change is presented in the form of tables and diagrams reflecting the distribution of the population number by age between 1989 and 2016. There is a trend towards an increase in the retirement age population in the 21st century, as well as a steady decline in the proportion of the able-bodied population; possible consequences of this are indicated. On the basis of statistical data on birth rate, a prognosis has been made about an increase in the proportion of the children's population by 2021. The dynamics of demographic changes in the federal districts of the Russian Federation are given. In conclusion, it was noted that in strategic planning and preparation of standards for urban planning of social infrastructure facilities it is necessary to take into account statistical data on population structure.

Currently, the Russian Federation is developing a mechanism for providing access of socially-oriented non-profit organizations (SONPO) for the rendering of socially useful services to the population. However, it is impossible to determine a clear mechanism for implementation of such services because of the lack of Federal standards regulating the process of their provision. The article presents the results of the empirical study, the main purpose of which was to reveal information about the work in the subjects of the Russian Federation. The task of this work is to provide access for socially-oriented non-profit organizations to socially useful services in the field of physical culture and mass sports (including information on the regulatory framework governing the process of providing relevant services). The results of monitoring indicated insufficient development of the regulatory field related to the regulation of the provision of socially useful services in the field of physical culture and mass sports. The article substantiates the need for developing federal standards for the effective provision of socially useful services through socially-oriented non-profit organizations in the field of physical culture and mass sports.

The era of innovation has affected all spheres of human activity, even seemingly the most traditional and conservative. There is also a constant process of searching for new forms and methods of transfer and assimilation of knowledge in education. A special place among the forms of innovation in higher education takes the development and implementation of new models of University. In this area we have a whole spectrum of views - from the theoretical models of the «knowledge economy» developed in the last decades in the US, EU, Russia, and the models of the new university, presented in the works of French and Russian researchers, to the denial of the serious changes of the traditional university. French and Russian research in this area can be considered as the most extensive, well-founded and practice-oriented. Among the promising practical models of development for the University there is the cluster approach to the University as an educational research center and promoter of regional development implemented in the University of the Côte D'azur.

The article considers and analyzes the main approaches for teaching law disciplines in the context of reforming the education system. According to the author's opinion, it is necessary to maintain the balance of the doctrinal education and professional training of the student, and also to strive for the result of mastering by the student the philosophical foundations of the profession of a lawyer so that he can find necessary legal tools for solving tasks in any situation. The main thing is to teach the students the methods of systemic operation with legal tools and to ensure that he has mastered the professional skills. In order to develop and consolidate these skills, students must be offered different types and methods of learning interaction and ensure their active involvement in the processes of searching and sharing information, discussing the problems posed, working out a solution in the team, justifying the position taken, etc. The study of jurisprudence must be based on mastering the branch theory of law. The thematic curriculum must include as many as possible complex theoretical questions, especially from the fundamental sections during lecture and seminar sessions. The task of the teacher must not be limited to transfer of scientific information about the subject - he must help the student search for knowledge and implement methodically competent training.

One of the innovations of 2010 is the idea of delegating some part of authority and responsibility for the implementation of the national policy to the administrative bodies of the largest cities. Being in the epicenter of interethnic interactions, emergence and resolution of interethnic contradictions and conflicts, they have the best opportunities for monitoring and monitoring the situation. The implementation of this idea set the task for the city administrations to develop their own strategies for regulating interethnic relations, maintaining peace and harmony in the society, which would be simultaneously coordinated with the National Strategy of the country and would respond to the specifics of local realities. The article discusses the effectiveness of Urban Development Strategies in the area of regulation of interethnic relations. The comparative analysis of target regional and municipal programs for maintaining interethnic harmony in the cities of Perm, Ufa and Rostov-on-Don was conducted; the evolution of those programs has been considered since the 1990s.

The problem of development and improvement of the state national policy of the Russian Federation in recent years is a popular topic in political and scientific discourse. In the conditions of formation of stability of the regional political system, as well as the multi-ethnicity in most of the Russian republics, the issues of managing inter-ethnic relations and the formation of national policy at the local level are among the most important ones. They have a significant impact on the stability and development of both the subject of Russian Federation and the country as a whole. This article analyzes the basic principles of the formation and implementation of national policies in the context of determining strategies for political stability in the republics of the Russian Federation. The existing system of ensuring political stability in the regions should provide opportunities for maintaining autonomy for ethnic groups, but at the same time correlate claims within the regions with the political attitudes and regulatory requirements of the federal center. The policy pursued by regional elites in the field of language, culture, education is one of the most important elements of national policy, and, accordingly, the maintenance of regional stability, since it is necessary to contain ethnic elites at the initial stage of development. Language, culture and other important categories are the external identifiers that form the ethnicity.

At the 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in St. Petersburg discussions on strengthening control over governments were held. The International Day of Parliamentarism was set up. The inter-parliamentary union accumulates the position of the majority of democratic states. Such models of governance of countries determine the status and powers of parliaments in 176 states of the world - members of the Union. Parliamentarism is perfecting democracy. The work analyzes the development of parliamentarism under the republican form of government, examines contemporary parliamentary experience in the Russian Federation, identifies the problems of professionalization, preparation of the parliamentary reserve. There is a noticeable tendency of strengthening the control of the executive branch of power, as well as the initiative in international cooperation. Interparliamentary cooperation within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States is intensifying as a result of the 25th anniversary of the work of the Interparliamentary Assembly. To be more precise, during its activity more than five hundred model laws were prepared. The coordination of interparliamentary cooperation within the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation is strengthening, and the efficiency of parliamentary diplomacy is improving. Modernization of social life in the last quarter of the century contributed to the adoption of civilized forms of management. Taking into account the democratic experience and the influence of parliaments on the mechanisms of ‘disciplining of authority' have led to the increase in the political culture of citizens. Parliaments and their activities became more transparent. They consistently mastered the principles of democracy, represented the interests of various social groups in society. The adopted constitutions and electoral laws contributed to the structuring of the selection processes through representations.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, important qualitative institutional, structural, and functional changes emerged in the post-Soviet space. Each of the countries of the region was at the crossroads of possible ways of development, conditioned by the interests of various external and internal social groups. These groups sought to meet their own needs at the expense of the new state entities and did not realize at that time the measures of their responsibility for the acquisition of the independence and sovereignty that had suddenly «fallen off» on them. The external social environment and the nature of the relations between states have been changing; the market relations have gradually been regulated, not without external repercussion, the influence of the initially weak but gradually developing civil society has increased. In this situation it is important to trace the evolutionary dynamics of the coherence degree of the social changes of post-Soviet countries and key priorities for their integration.

This article is based on an analysis of the strategic context of the sanctions policy in different historical periods and in various countries, as well as effectiveness of the sanctions mechanism itself. The authors show that in the course of several waves of sanctions policy directed against Russia, the European partners of the United States, under the powerful pressure of Washington, began to fully participate in the sanctions measures, which partly looked very formal. The article examines the experience of sanctions policy both from international organizations and the United States. Assessing the effects and analyzing the proportionality of sanctions measures compared with other methods of achieving political and geopolitical purposes, the authors point out the low effectiveness of Euro-Atlantic economic sanctions against the Russian Federation. Russia's implementation of countermeasures against Western countries, the introduction of the complete ban on food imports from the EU countries, caused enormous damage to the initiators of anti-Russian sanctions, especially to some European countries that suffered serious losses having big impact on the GDP of these countries. Contrary to the expectations of the initiators, the sanctions policy has had a healing effect on the Russian agro-complex. While tens of thousands of jobs were lost in the EU countries, in Russia new jobs were created, and the country strengthened its food security.

Politics, like any sphere of human activity, initially contains a communication principle that manifests itself in concrete historical forms of interaction of various subjects of politics - individuals, social groups and institutions expressing their interests in establishing, functioning and changing power in society. Today, the role of political communication (PC) is considerably increasing, political information and communication space is expanding, the number of potential actors is growing, and globalization and the improvement of information technologies have a significant impact on these processes. In this article, the main components of political communication as an independent form of communication are presented, the essence of political communication at the present stage of the development of society, its general social and specific characteristics are considered. It is noted that the PC as a process and the space of political communication has a fairly clear structure, the perception of which is distorted because of many misunderstandings and formulations of the basic concepts being reference points in scientific research (for example, the Internet in various studies is designated as a channel, method or form, propaganda - as a form and method of implementation, etc.). In this regard, a model of the PC structure with the distribution of logical units by levels is proposed. Also, the author analyzes some trends in transformation of modern political communication, including virtualization of the space of political communication, uneven openness of the political process, the tendency of forming a logomachical society, information fatigue of recipients, depoliticization of the population.

The article is devoted to the questions of service in the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation in the regions of the Far North. The concept, specific features and peculiarities of the Arctic region, its role in the development of modern Russia and influence on the political, economic and social situation in the state are revealed. The author focuses attention on the need for stable functioning of all social systems located in the northern regions, including law enforcement agencies. The existing base of the legislation of the activity of law-enforcement bodies is analyzed and the necessity of legal regulation of passing of this type of service, taking into account the specifics of regional characteristics, is touched upon. Despite the fact that, in general, the activities of the internal affairs bodies are regulated in detail, the legal basis for their functioning practically does not take into account the context of regional conditions, and the peculiarities of the legal regulation of the activity of the internal affairs bodies in the Far North are practically not investigated and are not reflected in legal acts. In addition, the author emphasizes that in modern Russia there is still no normative legal act regulating the use of the shift method, which is actively used in developing the regions of the Far North, and the normative bases approved in 1987 continue to be applied. It is proposed to fix the concept of ‘shift method of service in the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation' in the regulatory legal framework.