Vol. 23 No. 2 (2021)

In 2020, the concept, status, and list of legally protected values were legislatively enshrined (the values that are directly significant for all people: the life and health of people, their property in all its manifestations, personal data, animals and plants, the environment, etc.). State bodies were tasked to minimize the risk of harm to these values; therefore, state (municipal) control and supervision measures should be aimed directly at protecting these values from state-controlled risks. Undoubtedly, Russian citizens are interested both in maintaining the already existing level of protection of values that are significant to them as well as in improving this protection. Sociological surveys conducted by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration among citizens and business representatives show that the protection of values also depends on the activities of state control and supervisory bodies. In the article, the author gives the dynamics of citizens’ assessment of the protection of these values and considers what exactly affects their security. Also, the article assesses the role of the control and supervisory activities of the state within the framework of ensuring the security of these values, shows the prospects for enhancing security, and proposes a program for increasing protection. The author believes that if we continue to conduct these surveys, then we will be able to assess the effectiveness of the current reform of control and supervisory activities from the citizens’ point of view, including the “regulatory guillotine” and its impact on the protection of the values protected by law that are significant for citizens.

In connection with the adoption of the Federal Law of July 31, 2020 No. 258-FZ “On Experimental Legal Regimes in the Field of Digital Innovations in the Russian Federation” and of the Federal Law of July 31, 2020 No. 247-FZ “On Mandatory Requirements in the Russian Federation” (Article 13 “Experimental legal regime”) the topic of experimental legislation was updated. The article is devoted to the application of the experimental approach in legal regulation. The author reveals the essence of the concept of experimental legislation, explains the goals and objectives of using the appropriate technologies. The author notes that although in a broad sense it can be said that the adoption of any new law is in itself an experiment, there are still significant differences within the experimental law. The author sets out the essential features of a legislative experiment. The article examines the reasons for the need and prerequisites for the rationality of the use of experimental legislation. The author shows the nature of legislative experimentation and the merits of this toolkit. The author shows the areas of relevant application of the method of experimental legislation. The species diversity of methods of experimental regulatory regulation is indicated. The article compares the method of practical experimental legislation and the method of thought experiment in norm-writing and law-making activities. The article compares the method of practical experimental legislation and the method of digital duplicate-models of legislative acts. The author substantiates the existence of limits of applicability of the method of experimental legislation and demonstrates selected technologies of experimental legislation. In conclusion, the author turns to the complex and controversial problems of using the method of experimental legislation.

The author analyzes the problematic aspects of the prosecutor's supervision over the observance of the labor rights of citizens involved in remote work and the temporary transfer of employees to remote work at the initiative of the employer in exceptional cases. During the spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the legal regulation of teleworking is one of the most important aspects requiring special attention. In practice, remote work is connected with such difficulties as the discipline of workers. In the article, the author gives considerations regarding the workplace of a remote worker, highlights the rules for bringing an employee to disciplinary responsibility, and shows the means of regulating the labor discipline for teleworking employees. The author emphasizes that it is through the efforts of the employer that it is possible to increase the discipline of employees in remote work. The article describes the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation regarding civil claims for reinstatement at work during the period of working remotely. Also, the author analyzes the state of legality in the field of labor relations. The article provides the author's point of view concerning the application of labor legislation and the implementation of prosecutorial supervision in this field.

In this article, the author carries out the organizational and legal analysis of the adaptation of personnel in the state civil service. The results of the study suggest that the existing legislation does not contain provisions directly regulating the process of adaptation for civil servants. The article presents a comparative analysis of the personnel adaptations and probation period, identifies the main differences of these technologies. The organizational analysis of civil service personnel adaptation is carried out on the experience of using this personnel technology in the Ministry of Culture of Zabaikalsky Krai, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of Omsk region, Executive authorities of Penza and Yaroslavl regions, Khabarovsk Krai and St. Petersburg, in the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, and in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. The analysis of adaptation practices implemented in the different bodies of public authorities of the Russian Federation allows to conclude that, currently, there is no single approach to civil service personnel adaptation. There are often formal practices that fail to achieve their goals. Government bodies today increasingly pay attention to the need to regulate the adaptation process of employees, however, they implement their programs with varying degrees of success. Not all government bodies effectively use the adaptation mechanisms for civil servants, which means that measures must be taken to correct the situation. The author sees the solution of the problems in changing the legal and organizational basis for the personnel adaptation in the civil service.

The article discusses the method for team interactions aimed at improving the efficiency of communication and developing a common balanced position. The basis of the method is employee interactions which reveals the potential of all team members through specific mental practices. The team result of this method exceeds the result that can be achieved through consensus-building techniques. Among the possible areas where this method can be applied are teams in commercial organizations and the public service. Teams, using creative functions in their work, engaged in the development of projects related to the development and promotion of a new product or the development of a new business model, the formation of a comprehensive development plan for the region, face different opinions, sometimes even conflicting points of view and ideas. As a result, when discussing a project, these points of view often clash. How can we organize interactions in such a way as to quickly come to the most effective solution to the problem, with the full consent of each team member? In this article, the authors tried to answer this question and proposed a method for forming effective interaction between team members in solving creative problems.

The level of transport infrastructure development directly affects the rate of economic growth. In 2018, in Russia, 67.1 % of the total volume of transported goods were delivered by road transport. However, we cannot talk about the full realization of the road transportation system since 57.6 % of public roads do not meet regulatory requirements. The available statistics indicate that, first of all, attention should be paid to the condition of the roads. The article analyzes the system for road maintenance in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, considers the main regulatory documents governing the activities of road work suppliers and executive authorities in the field of road maintenance. The article examines and analyzes the advanced foreign experience in the field of technologies for servicing roads in the winter. As the result of analysis, the authors propose introducing performance-based contracts into the field of the road sector. The creation of an economically feasible form of performance-based contracts can lead to a decrease in the cost of road maintenance by 10-40 %.

The article describes the features of the formation of an anti-corruption system aimed at training public officials. This system takes into account the international obligations of Russia, as well as the needs of the authorities in the professional training of officials, the creation of an efficient apparatus, and increased efficiency in the fight against corruption. The author presents an approach to developing the training for anti-corruption officials, engaged in countering corruption and other offenses, as well as other employees or persons filling state (municipal) posts through the use of interactive technologies. Special attention is paid to the use of interactive teaching methods, such as brainstorming, case work, group work, analysis and working with documents, modeling, demonstration, guided discussion, debate, creative assignments, business games, expert meeting, Socrates method, use of video recordings and visual guidances. Government bodies, working to prevent corruption and other offenses, together with educational organizations are actively developing curricula and training materials for anti-corruption classes. All materials of the article can be used for organizing anti-corruption education for civil servants and public officials.

The article presents a system-activity approach to implementing the new federal state educational standard of higher education in the training direction 03.38.04 “State and Municipal Administration”. The article substantiates the methodology for designing a model of activities for public servants as the basis for determining professional goals of the educational process at a university. The author defines and differentiates the types of their activities according to the functional characteristics of various categories of civil servants. Professional goals are achieved through the development of professional competence of students, which implies the setting of the following educational goals: developing the student's leadership potential; developing the citizenship as the ability to realize the rights and responsibilities of a citizen of the country; forming and developing meta subject skills, which are the signs of a civil servant's professional qualities; mastering management technologies in a certain area of activity. The work presents the experience of approbation of the system-activity approach in the process of teaching. A special role is assigned by the author of information and communication activities of civil servants in the process of exercising their powers.

Solving problems at the local level requires the unified activity of both the municipal authorities and representatives of civil society. In this regard, the author attempts to comprehend the concepts of ‘local self-government’ and ‘local community’ in the context of the formation of a cooperative environment in the relationship between them, and also gives his own definition of the term based on existing approaches and views. The essence of this understanding of the local community is to emphasize the uniqueness of the role of local governments and public organizations, as well as individual citizens. The author focuses on the participation of non-profit organizations in this process, which is illustrated by the example of the all-Russian Council of local self-government and projects implemented by this organization, as well as by considering the work of the Association for the promotion of twinning relations of Cologne and Volgograd. The paper concludes that the role of the non-profit sector in the development of local communities needs to be strengthened in Russia. At the same time, it is necessary to change approaches to the definition of the term ‘local community’ in such a way that it reflects the desire to form associations that meet the criteria for involvement in the process of solving local problems that arise for public organizations and local residents (of different focus and different significance for the municipal territory). It is important that local communities have their own opportunities for self-identification against the background of existing associations and have a fruitful influence on the communication process between different communities and allow the exchange of experience in various fields.

The growth of the digital asset ecosystem has led to the emergence of hundreds of crypto exchanges that facilitate the trade of digital assets. This phenomenon did not remain without the attention of malefactors. Today, we can talk about an independent type of “cryptocurrency exchange crime”. The article analyzes the key criminal trends and formulates the main recommendations for the prevention of criminal encroachments in the cryptocurrency market. At the moment, one of the most common manipulative schemes is “pump and dump”, which became notorious at the turn of the 90s and 2000s. To date, no jurisdiction has created an effective protection regime against such fraud. The authors highlight the main reasons for the low efficiency of the measures taken: the presence of digital assets on the Internet led to the online nature of all stages of manipulations coordinated by anonymous groups in social networks; wide availability and lack of restrictions on the placement of tokens predetermined their regular and widespread placement (as opposed to an IPO); selfish interest of crypto-exchange sites that receive a commission from a transaction. It is emphasized that regulators’ search for a balance between innovation and investor protection is driving the reluctance of many jurisdictions to introduce proper criminal law protection regimes.

The article describes issues related to the independence of administrative judges in France. The merits of French administrative judges are constantly being discussed. Since the establishment of the Council of State, administrative jurisdiction has not only received the respect it deserves but has also been subject to criticism for its legitimacy. Consideration of the position of a French administrative judge refers to the jurisdictional dualism that is characteristic of France. The Administrative Court regularly makes strong arguments in its favor; it has the legally enshrined right to exist and objective grounds for this. It serves the idea of justice and equality, carries out tasks that no one else can fulfill through addressing three different audiences: the administration and the outside political power, of which it is a branch, the applicant, and the court of general jurisdiction. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the problems of a European judge who can change the legal identity of a state. Some foreign judges dare to question the legitimacy of European case law and thus defend their own legitimacy, but in France, this approach is unlikely to be observed. The author believes that administrative judges should accept the classic challenge of a relationship with the national authorities and rethink its legitimacy concerning the supranational judiciary.

Analysis of the main trends in the development of the market for higher education services, affecting the transformation of university financing models, shows that improving the quality of educational services in Russian universities directly depends on an increase in the share of revenues received from research and development, as well as the ability of universities to present the results of their research and development in the form of a complete product from a marketing point of view and build a competent strategy for promoting innovations in the market. In the context of creating a long-term strategy for increasing the competitive advantages of leading universities, the author pays special attention to Project 5-100 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the purpose of which is to maximize the competitive position of a group of leading Russian universities in the global market of educational services and research programs. It is noted that university funding comes from various sources, while budgetary revenues dominate the structure of income, and the reduction in budgetary provision significantly affects the financial condition of Russian universities. The author comes to the conclusion that the forms and mechanisms of financial management of universities and research organizations are not strictly regulated, they independently choose the sources of funding.

The subject of the study is education in the field of culture and art, its purpose is to assess public policy in the field of art education. The article analyzes the reasons for the appearance in the film industry of specialists with a low level of training. The study was based on the regulatory legal acts of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, data from Federal State Statistics Service, portals of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia: ‘Monitoring the employment of graduates’ and ‘How to enter the UNIVERSITY correctly’. During the study, a hypothesis was formulated on the trend of an increase in the training of specialists in creative specialties in non-core educational organizations. The hypothesis was tested on the basis of a regressive analysis of the distribution of admission quotas to higher education organizations, regardless of their departmental affiliation, and the construction of a linear regression. The article applies methods based on the establishment of an internal relationship of phenomena, their mathematical description. According to the analysis, the assessment of the quality of education in the field of culture and art should be determined not only by conducting online exams and testing graduates, and by questioning employers about the quality of their professional training. The author suggests measures aimed at changing the existing methodology for distributing admission quotas for creative specialties to educational organizations of higher education of the Ministry of Culture of Russia and other universities for which creative specialties are not specialized, and tightening requirements for material, technical and personnel support of a full-fledged educational process.

In the article, the formation and development of public administration in the Azerbaijan Republic is considered, firstly, in the context of the country’s history and culture, its natural, geographical, social, economic features; secondly, through the prism of the principles of sustainable development and the emerging trend in the formation of e-government. It is shown that over the years since independence, the Republic has managed to resolve a number of internal and external political problems, to overcome the consequences of a severe systemic crisis of the 1990s. Invariably the focus of attention of state bodies over the years has been economic issues, the problems of its diversification and the social and humanitarian sphere, its state, prerequisites and conditions for development. A comparative analysis based on official reports of international organizations shows that a number of important economic and social indicators of Azerbaijan are now at the same level as those of the G7 countries. The achieved level of economic development and implemented successful social policy became possible due to the formation of an adequate system of state and municipal government in the Republic. The article reveals the connection between the formation of an effective public administration system and the spiritual, moral, and cultural condition of society. The support by citizens of public administration structures on the basis of trust creates a positive situation of synergy of management and social self-organization. It is emphasized that maintaining a sustainable development of society, its inclusive nature is possible with an advanced personnel policy in the field of public administration and the use of innovative technologies.