Vol. 22 No. 4 (2020)

On July 4, 2020, the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, provided for in Article 1 of the Law of the Russian Federation on the amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation No. 1-FKZ of March 14, 2020, «On improving the regulation of certain issues of the organization and functioning of public authorities» came into force. In this regard, it is important to improve federal legislation in order to bring it in line with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. It is necessary to amend a number of legislative acts of the Russian Federation defining the status of persons holding public office, including federal constitutional laws. For example, Federal law No. 79-FZ of 27 July 2004 “On the state civil service of the Russian Federation” appears to require a number of changes. First of all, it is necessary to clarify the duties of a state civil servant related to the presence (acquisition) of citizenship of a foreign state or a residence permit or other document confirming the right to permanent residence of a citizen of the Russian Federation on the territory of a foreign state. The restrictions provided for by the new provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation for civil servants need to be promptly incorporated into the legislation of the Russian Federation on the civil service of the Russian Federation.

This article considers the public-private partnership (PPP) projects financing mechanism through the analysis of its models. The importance and necessity of using variability in structuring of different elements of financing mechanism are proved, which allows to detect the ways of their effective interaction in order to increase the efficiency of using financial resources during PPP projects implementation. The existence of basic models for PPP projects financing mechanism is justified including direct financing, project financing and financing with professional participants in the securities market. The schemes and algorithms of their functioning are presented. The article argues that in the modern conditions it is expedient to supplement the basic models for PPP projects financing mechanism by the new elements: postponed tax payments, bonds with special purpose, elements of Islamic financing mechanism models. Combining new and classic elements contributes to improvement of financing mechanism models and focuses on expanding the circle of potential investors for PPP projects.

The article proposes a methodology for assessing the innovative activity of a company, one of the areas of values of state corporations: «Innovation, innovative development, the ability to upgrade». To evaluate the effectiveness, the principle of decomposition of a global goal was used with its replacement for individual specific tasks according to the designated functional subsystems and objects (blocks) of assessment, which together give a generalized description of technological, technical innovations, their development and use, implementation of the latest digital information technologies, results intellectual research, the development of new business processes, management methods, organizational forms in business practice, as well as ability to sustainable renovation, improvement and prospects for innovative growth of the company and its sustainable renewal.The scoring methodology using the developed criteria boundaries of efficiency from ambitious to low efficiency and with assignment of significance scales by expert means involves the inclusion in each assessment block of six to fifteen traditional and composite author’s indicators, the complexity of which is determined by the complexity of the subject of the study and the described process. The methodology is universal in nature, can be used for large corporations and small companies according to a reduced set of indicators, it can be used in determining ratings.

The article examines the meaning of digital rights in the constitutional and legal aspects. The author criticizes the concept of digital rights as new objects of civil rights in domestic civil legislation since it contradicts the established world practice in understanding such a term as “digital rights”, as well erroneously ascribes certain powers of other subjective rights as independent ones, which can be realized through digital technologies. The article considers the incorrect assignment to digital rights of some constitutional rights, enshrined in the Russian constitution (rights to information, the right to privacy, freedom of the media). According to the author, digital rights in the constitutional and legal framework should be considered only those that either appeared along with the emergence of modern digital technologies, or acquired a significantly new meaning. The article gives some examples of such rights (the right to Internet access; the right to communication; the right to protection from machine processing of information) and states the conclusion on the formation of a constitutional and legal institution of digital rights at the present time.

Practical use of the most well-known country ratings does not always allow obtaining objective information about the real situation in various countries and assessing the prospects for their development. Popular wisdom expressed by the aphorism ‘We have not noticed how the truth has been replaced with ratings’ is becoming increasingly popular. The article proposes a tool for analyzing the relationship between the positions of different countries in the most popular ratings, based on the use of a matrix of paired correlation coefficients, assessing their significance according to the Pearson criterion and the strength of the correlation connection on the Cheddock scale. Based on the calculations, it was found that the dynamics of the countries advancement in the Doing Business ranking did not have statistically significant correlation with almost any ratings and macroeconomic indicators characterizing the real dynamics of socio-economic development. Shortcomings in the methods of ranking countries by prosperity, social development, rule of law index, level of perception of corruption, global happiness index are considered. Arguments are made that once the Coronavirus pandemic has been overcome, it is more likely that ratings will be more in demand to assess the quality of national security and the extent to which sustainable development goals have been achieved. It is proved that it is advisable to include the Global competitiveness rating, Human development index and SDG index as the most promising ratings that clearly demonstrate the country’s specific achievements in economic reforms and the growth of its international prestige.

There is a fierce competitive fight for innovation and talent all over the world. As we know, talented and competent personnel appear in higher education and scientific research. Now, the country’s competitiveness depends both on its ability to realize the innovative potential, and on the ability to respond to global challenges - environmental, social, epidemiological, etc. In this regard, the experience of France, associated with its ambitious goals, to take a leading position in the field of R&D, to update the formation mechanism within the country and attract talented researchers, to strengthen research potential, to develop institutional forms of support for innovation and to attract public and private investment, looks quite interesting. The most important thing for us is a specific toolkit for resolving the contradictions of accumulated problems in French society to develop the processes of research and innovation as a whole. At present, serious discussions are underway on the government’s draft Law on the long-term programming of scientific research, and in this article, we present the results of these disputes.

The article discusses the urgent problems of increasing life expectancy and involving older people in the active social space in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No.204 of May 7, 2018 “On national goals and strategic tasks for development of the Russian Federation for the period until 2024”. The article considers the term ‘productive longevity’ as a comprehensive idea of the tasks facing the authorities in this direction. It is noted that the regulatory framework provides the basis for the development and implementation of the program of systemic support and improvement of the quality of life of older citizens. The author proposes to consolidate the main signs of active longevity, which could be considered as criteria for the involvement and participation of various ministries and departments in fulfilling the tasks formulated by the Presidential Decree. In addition, the features of public administration by solving the problem of active longevity are considered. The need for interagency cooperation, as well as the creation of a federal portal on the Internet, is noted, where all available opportunities for the older generation will be laid out in the public domain: for the field of healthcare, education, and creative implementation. The need for targeted use of capital investments and systematic use of the resources laid down for the implementation of the program is emphasized.

The article examines the work of the “Moscow Longevity” state project/program. The analysis is carried through on the assessments given by the elderly residents of Moscow, as well as specialists from social welfare institutions responsible for the implementation of the program. The program is newly established and has been working in Moscow for over two years. The author names 4 stages for the implementation of the program: preparatory, trial, main, and “special” stages. This staging is based on the existing legal acts regulating the implementation of the project, as well as on the analysis of sociological research. The primary sources of data are: interviews conducted by the author with elderly residents of Moscow regarding the “Moscow Longevity” program (April-May 2020); surveys and focus groups conducted by the author during her work at the Moscow Institute of Additional Professional Training of Social Workers (2016-2017). The article examines statistics and publications in the mass media concerning the success of the “Moscow Longevity” project. Elderly Muscovites and employees of social organizations highly appreciated the ongoing activities, noting their relevance and timeliness, both for involving senior citizens in an active lifestyle and for adapting the elderly to a new period of life “for themselves”. Participants of the program take computer courses, study foreign languages, attend dance lessons, go to sports classes, develop artistic and aesthetic skills, master tourism, and visit cultural sites in Moscow. However, the program also has significant drawbacks, eliminating which requires significant material and technical resources as well as personnel work. Each year the participants voiced the same problems associated with the poor condition of the premises and the lack of an individual approach to activities' organization. The “special” stage related to the situation with the coronavirus pandemic revealed a lack of computer skills among the program participants (despite the conducted computer classes) and inability to quickly adapt to new conditions.

The article attempts to identify the types of models used in countries and to establish which of them and in which countries have been most successful. The study of economic development models used in different countries is important firstly, to identify the most successful world practices for their development and application. It is also necessary for building economic relations and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with countries for mutual adaptation of economies. This is especially important within the framework of integration associations that require coordination of programs and strategies for the socio-economic development of the participating countries. In theoretical terms, this explains the nature of economic development or stagnation, helps understanding of how to adjust the models of national development. In our view, the economic model is the result of linking, through the appropriate institutions, the goals of national socio-economic development with the available material and intellectual resources, peculiarities of the geo-economic position, cultural traditions, on the one hand, and trends in the development of world politics and economics, national security issues on the other. Post-Soviet countries have common initial conditions for the formation of sovereign economies. The movement towards the polycentric structure of the world economy is aggravating international political and economic relations. The coronavirus pandemic has raised the profile of the quality of governance and hit the incomes of both hydrocarbon producing countries and exporters of labor and services.

The article studies the main stages and features of the evolution of the public administration system in the Republic of Estonia after 1992. This paper presents brief geographical and socio-economic characteristics that largely determine the development of the country’s public administration. The evolution of the institution of the presidency, executive, and legislative powers are considered. The role of parliament and mechanisms for coordinating the interests of different groups of the population for the development of the country is especially emphasized. The authors analyze the state and administrative reforms of recent years, which were aimed at improving the quality of services provided to the population, increasing the competitiveness of different parts of Estonia, as well as optimizing public spending and management structure. The introduction of digital technologies into the sphere of public administration, healthcare, education, and the social sphere is of a notable place. Such phenomena as e-residency, e-federation, and other digital projects are considered. The development of a digital system of interstate interaction between Estonia and Finland made it possible to create the world’s first e-federation, and the digitization of all strategically important information and its transfer to cloud storage speaks of the creation of the world’s first e-residency, a special residence of data outside the country’s borders to ensure digital continuity and statehood in the event of critical malfunctions or external threats.