Territorial administration in Russia: state and effectiveness assessments

Introduction. The call for “a breakthrough development” has long become the keynote of the official discourse. However, the implementation of decisions taken at the federal level largely depends on the efforts of regional and local authorities, the latter being not always able to cope successfully with their duties for various reasons. The situation is further complicated by the internal features of the spatial organization and territorial development of the country, external risks and threats, breakups along the lines of center - region and interregional relations, between the government and the population, the government and the expert community. Aims. To assess the current state of the territorial administration system in Russia and possible ways to improve it, taking into account the expert community opinion. Methods. Non-formalized traditional analysis of documents, diachronic analysis, political diagnostics, comparative and system analysis, complementing a formalized correspondence expert survey on the topic “Territorial administration in the Russian Federation: problems and ways to improve efficiency”. Results. The system of territorial administration in Russia, viewed as multi-level and centralized, is characterized by significant weaknesses and problems caused among all, by the unsatisfactory quality of political practices and the difficulty of verifying the evaluation criteria. Conclusion. The need has been emphasized for governance actors and, more broadly, political actors, to be oriented towards overcoming the identified problems and achieving socially significant development objectives correlating with the guidelines, opportunities and needs of the country, regions, local communities and citizens. Introduction of a number of mechanisms aimed at ensuring transparency of governance actors activities, their accountability to civil society institutions, improving legitimizing procedures for governance actors, strengthening expert support for management activities has been substantiated. The projected results of the proposed measures include raising the effectiveness of the state authorities and administration activities, as well as of the overall territorial administration system at different levels, alongside with improving the quality of management practices and citizens’ confidence in government.