Vol. 24 No. 1 (2022)

The article reviews the Gaidar Forum - 2022 with the traditional information partnership of the journal “Gosudarstvennaya sluzhba” and considers the discussions of practitioners and experts in the field. The forum provided a detailed discussion of the topic of public service - the peculiarities of its development at the present stage, the difficulties and contradictions that arise, the solutions, the formation of the public official of the future, etc. A number of sections were devoted to this topic. On the first day of the forum, three such discussions took place: «Is there life in the civil service?», «The modern leader: from competence to maturity», and «How to attract and retain professionals in the civil service: officials of the future.» During the second day, the discussions continued with the following topics: “The quality of government data: what have we come to and where to go next?”, “How to make government services truly accessible?” and “The Snowden Syndrome in building a digital state.” The public service faces complex challenges, and relevant approaches are required to meet them. There are new requirements for managers, the need to harmonize hierarchical relations through the balance of interests. Issues in the field of new technologies are also complicated (data leaks, cyber-fraud, etc.), there is a need to develop the general rules and principles for data processing, ensuring access to public services for all categories of citizens (including the elderly, people with physical disabilities, etc.). The author notes that there is an increase in the interaction between business and government, as well as openness to substantive dialogue at the interdepartmental level.

The article, for the first time, considers the problems of definition and established practices of virtual theater in an academic discussion. The author describes the main practices of using digital technology in theater, outlines the boundaries of understanding the role of digital art, the connection of technology and traditional principles and values of artistry, as well as directing skills. The discussion of digital theater at the Gaidar Forum in January 2022 served as a key reason to prepare this article. The discussion focused on the modern theater as an institution that inherits deep artistic traditions and, at the same time, is on the current agenda and uses current means of artistic expression, and, moreover, exists in the digital world, the intensity and rapid development of which poses many questions to society. It seems natural to the participants in the discussion that the theater's response to new realities, however, the very understanding of these realities and, accordingly, reactions to them, is interpreted by The article analyzes the main points of the discussion and gives examples that confirm the development of digital theater as a separate branch of the creative economy, assessing the prospects for Russian projects in this area. The author notes the essential difference between digital theater and digitized theater and stresses that an understanding of these differences has not yet emerged and requires further research. In addition, the article defines the fundamental features and characteristics of digital theater.

The article was prepared as part of the research work carried out within the framework of the state assignment of RANEPA. The author analyzed the practices of assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of experiments in Russian public administration, including those held within the framework of experimental legal regimes. In the course of work, a general methodological approach to the evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of experimental legal regimes was substantiated. This includes the concept of experiment, the system of its features, the classification of experiments conducted in public administration, as well as the content of the notions of effectiveness, success, and efficiency of experiments. The article outlines proposals for the normative institutionalization of such an assessment system, including amendments and additions to the legislation and subordinate regulations of the law-making process. Based on the developed methodological approach, an analysis of the practice of developing experiments and draft programs for experimental legal regimes in 2021 was presented. Proposals for adjustments and additions to the criteria for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency were argued. As a result, there is a need for stricter regulation of the execution of requirements to develop systems for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of experiments. In the absence of such evaluation, experiments do not contribute to improving the validity of state regulation and cannot serve as the basis for making further management decisions.

The article presents the author’s approach to evaluating the quality (validity, efficiency, and effectiveness) of state control and regulation from the perspective of citizens and private business, based on the results of sociological research conducted by RANEPA in 2017-2021. According to citizens, along with some positive trends (the decrease in the frequency of informal payments during inspections and the business costs for interaction with state supervision authorities), the level of security for legally protected values remains low, and the impact of state control and supervisory activities to minimize risks is quite limited. According to the private business assessment, the overall regulatory burden related to the implementation of mandatory legal requirements is not decreasing. In addition, there are no positive trends in the evaluation of adequacy of the established mandatory requirements to the risks of harm in the relevant areas of regulation, as well as the practical implementation of legal provisions. In the current situation, the validity, effectiveness, and efficiency of state control and regulation need to be further improved. The results of the study indicate the need to adopt special measures aimed at improving the quality of state regulation and control. The author speaks of the need to transform the system of state control (supervision) into the system of specific mechanisms and institutions to safeguard legally protected values in the interests of citizens. The article provides recommendations for possible directions of such a transformation.

Last December, an international scientific and practical conference was held at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration with the topic: “Prospects for improving the quality of public administration in the context of digitalization”. The author’s speech formed the basis for this article. The article considers the problems of improving the quality of public administration, reveals their essence, and identifies solutions. The main aspects in improving the quality of public administration are presented. The author demonstrates the intermediate results of the ongoing audit for improving control and supervisory activities. The author provides recommendations to improve the effectiveness of state functions over control and supervision. Priorities for the introduction of new management approaches and analytical tools aimed at improving the audit of public administration are outlined. In the context of rapidly changing economic processes, continuous improvement of public administration audit is required. At the same time, priority is given to the introduction of new approaches and technologies. The degree of openness is one of the indicators of the quality of public administration. In the context of rapidly changing economic processes, continuous improvement of public administration audit becomes necessary. This is due to the need to increase the impact on solving the state tasks to ensure the growth of the welfare of citizens and the sustainable development of the country. At the same time, priority is given to the introduction of new approaches and technologies. The form of meeting with representatives of the federal executive authorities points at the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation taking the course on developing openness and facilitating partnerships. The degree of openness is one of the indicators of the quality of public administration, since it contributes to an increase in citizens’ trust in the state. In turn, partnerships allow to concentrate efforts on solving acute social problems.

The article discusses the mechanism for ensuring and supervising the legitimacy of local self-government activities. The legitimacy of municipalities is associated with strict compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, the basis of which is the foundation for the constitutional system of Russia. Using the method of deduction and induction, the author delimits and demarcates the framework of legal legitimacy for the functioning of municipal authorities, fixes the markers of the formula of law enshrined in the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation”: “The rule of law, unity, and strengthening of the rule of law”, as well as the formula of law stated by Yu.A. Tikhomirov: “Goal - regulators - actions - results”. The author argues that the current norms and provisions of the first Chapter of the Russian Constitution cannot be considered as sole objectives or declarative norms governing the organization and functioning of local self-government. The article interprets the legal legitimacy of the local government activities as an activity within the constitutional and legal fields. The author examines the main legal problems in the activities of local governments. The materials of the article reveal the essence of such formulas of law as: “The rule of law, the unity, and strengthening of the rule of law” and “Goal - regulators - actions - results” as mechanisms for legal defectology.

The article provides a periodization of the key public administration reforms that influenced the development of the system and structure of public authorities. The author examines the issues related to the distinction between the actual and formal-legal moment of emergence of territorial executive bodies of state power in Russia. Characteristics of the evolution of the system for public governance in tsarist Russia are presented. The article presents the criteria allowing to refer an authority to the territorial bodies of state power in the absence of relevant concepts in the legal terminology of the respective historical stage. The article aims to form a scientifically substantiated picture of the creation and development of the system for central state authorities and their territorial bodies in Russia in the period of XIV-XX centuries by using a comprehensive system analysis. Through comparisons of the key features characterizing modern territorial bodies of federal executive authorities and state institutions performing the functions of general and sectoral public administration in the administrative-territorial units of pre-revolutionary Russia, we can define their actual similarities. This refers to the function of representation of central authorities in the field, the presence of powers in the sphere of public administration, executive and administrative nature of activity, professional and sectoral division, and subordination to the central bodies of state administration.

The article examines the economic and legal nature of cryptocurrency as an object of civil rights. The article analyzes the current problems of the civil law mechanism for fulfilling obligations in the sphere of digital rights turnover. The system of characteristic features of the cryptocurrency is revealed. To clarify and integrate doctrinal, legislative and law enforcement approaches, the author proposes a definition of cryptocurrency based on its qualifying features. The author defines cryptocurrency as a transferable complex thing within a given specific digital system, which is characterized by both material signs of money, currency values and information, and legally significant qualities of the property, digital and intellectual rights, and intangible benefits (business reputation). Currently, it is necessary to sыolve the problem with the lack of theoretical, legislative, and law enforcement approach to the concept of cryptocurrency and the systematization of its qualifying features. The legal definition of cryptocurrency will serve as a methodological basis for the effective legal regulation of relations both in the specialized market of digital financial instruments and relations in the rapidly developing sphere of digital rights, which is necessary for economic growth and serves as an institutional basis for the digital economy and the state.

The article addresses sociological study on “Generation Z” through the study of foreign and domestic generational theories, comparing empirical data and identifying problematic aspects. The work considers the worldview of Generation Z representatives, their values and involvement in social, economic, and political processes, their preferences, as well as their consumer characteristics and motives for behavior. The features of Generation Z described by many authors serve as the basis for research on the characteristics of work, organization of everyday life, attitudes toward political and economic events, parenting, cognitive activities, collective identity, preservation of society’s traditional foundations, etc. The need for additional sociological research is due to the contradictory assessments of several researchers, the controversial nature of certain conclusions, and estimates of their prevalence. Interpretive conclusions do not sufficiently account for the influence of the digital environment on the results of measurement tools, and the popularity of some features in one country does not always apply in another. The author notes the presence of such an effect as “moral panic”. It results in uncertainty for renewing the institutions of socialization and their interaction. There is a need to study the processes of socialization in Russia and the formation of new digital institutions during the digitalization of public administration.

The article examines the application of benchmarking for personnel practices. The authors demonstrate the concept for the cycle of personnel practices and examples of best personnel practices in the civil and municipal service. The article presents the results of the study on the level of development and automation for personnel processes in the civil service and highlights the development of a unified information system for personnel management of the civil service of the Russian Federation (EISUKS) as part of modernization for personnel processes technologies. The authors propose methodological approaches to considering personnel practices in the civil and municipal service, state-owned corporations, and recommendations for modernizing the Contest of Best Personnel Practices and Initiatives in the State and Municipal Management System.

The article examines the Millennials’ career habitus using narrative online interviews. In the course of the work, it was revealed that millennials have a unique sense of social time affecting the generation’s career habitus design, which is the system of orientation for constructing life directions. Millennials are characterized by deep engagement in time, perceived as a non-linear process due to the formation of uncertainty and chaos caused by the movement of capital after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the emergence of the VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity), and the digital society. Millennials use time as a flexible, chaotic, and nonlinear structure and become reformers in terms of career, professional, and life planning. This characterizes the reactive potential of a generation capable of changing social structures. Awareness of the Millennial generation’s career habitus helps building effective management paradigm for young specialists in the public service. The article describes the habitus design that implies freedom from the paradigm of time as a linear, cyclical, structured process. It creates new horizons for training the future public managers capable of forming their knowledge system with a unique, flexible structure that includes constantly updated social experience. The need for constant movement can be used to motivate civil servants. In practice, it is necessary to create opportunities for learning and sharing knowledge and experience. We should develop new working formats that imply dividing personnel into small agile groups to solve non-standard tasks, which gives a sense of meaningful contribution to the common cause.

Analyzing the issues of state regulation of tourism and tourism policy, the authors include a review of studies conducted by foreign and Russian authors, with the subsequent allocation of specific features. With a systematic approach, tourism is perceived as a socio-economic system that operates under the influence of external and internal conditions. External factors are conditioned and systemized connections and relations with other spheres of politics as well as their interactions with tourism policy. In the management system, in order to maintain balance between state administration and market relations, indicators of socio-economic efficiency are of great importance. Particular attention is paid to social efficiency and environmental sustainability, which allows this study to consider regional tourism formations. With the use of the expert evaluation method, the state regulation and support measures for tourism at the present stage are investigated. For further growth, it is necessary to consider the forecast of probable trends and patterns of development in this field, Russian conditions, and regional characteristics, as well as the mutual influence and interaction of state policy and tourism.

The article describes the formation of the modern statehood of the Republic of Tajikistan. The formation of the statehood of Tajikistan was influenced by the peculiarities in the historical life of the people of the country; traditions are carefully preserved and developed in modern independent Tajikistan using best world practices and experience. After gaining independence, the country underwent significant changes in political life, in the spheres of education, health care, and social protection of the population; the economic sphere is developing, and the state is taking measures to form an electronic government. The author analyzes the actions of the country’s authorities to create state institutions that meet modern requirements and demands of the population and shows the history of the public service formation in the Republic of Tajikistan. It is noted that the ultimate goals for the development of the state civil service system are the precise definition of its functions and tasks, the improvement of management structures, including the creation of educational institutions for training civil service personnel, planning of activities, financing, material and expert support, stimulation and motivation of civil servants, ensuring state support and public control. It is concluded that the Tajik experience testifies to the formation of a new type of political culture - a culture of peace, which presupposes the priority of consensus in making state and public decisions. The legal framework and political atmosphere, the activities of the government contributed to the formation of the necessary minimum of political culture, the realization that the authority to power is a reflection of the will of citizens, expressed in the course of competitive, periodically held legal elections, in connection with which the development of democratic values is considered as an important element of modern state policy for social change.