Editorial. Рубрика в журнале - Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast
The president called on the officials of all levels to “stop fooling around”
Статья научная
February 2023 marks one year since the beginning of the special military operation (February 24, 2022). February 21, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly. The head of state noted: “This is not only a time of challenges but also a time of opportunities… And our future depends on the way we realize these opportunities. We must put an end - and I want to emphasize this - to all interagency conflicts, red tape, grievances, doublespeak, or any other nonsense. Everything we do must contribute to achieving our goals and delivering results. This is what we must strive to achieve”… And here the President is certainly right, since the principle of “everything must contribute to achieving our goals and delivering results” is hindered by the activities and managerial decisions of individual representatives of bureaucracy who are unable or unwilling to comply with the new conditions in which the country found itself after the start of the special military operation. In the article, we carry on analyzing the situation in Russia, key steps taken by the President in the face of increasing threats to national security, trends in public opinion and individual facts of real life that contradict the dominant national-patriotic trend of social sentiment and the tasks set by the President after February 24, 2022. The information base for our research includes assessments by experts from various fields, results of monitoring sociological surveys, and public speeches of the head of state since 2000. One of our main conclusions is that the future of Russia, the real formation of a new Social Contract, which is possible only after Russia’s victory in the special military operation and which consists in building a sovereign social state based on traditional spiritual and moral values and the principle of social justice, should begin with the mobilization of elites, elimination of “contradictions, formalities and other nonsense”; and the head of state can and should be the initiator of this process.
Бесплатно
Статья научная
Due to the approach of 2024, when, under the current Constitution of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin will not be able to run for President, conceptual issues related to the results of the country's development in the 21st century and, most importantly, its prospects for the coming decades, are becoming more acute. One of these issues (determined, among other things, by the specifics of the modern historical stage of development of the world civilization as a whole) consists in the problem of civilizational self-determination, which, in fact, has been discussed by the scientific community in our country since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This problem is connected with the lack of strategic goal-setting as one of the key functions of public administration; such a situation has a lot of negative implications for the population and national development as a whole: from the lingering unresolved social problems (poverty, inequality, etc.) to the regular delays in the implementation of national projects and execution of specific orders of the head of state. In addition, according to the results of federal and regional studies, Russian society does not have a distinct cultural and value-based vector of development; moreover, against the background of the relentless need to increase the standard of living and achieve social justice, Russian society is increasingly becoming a consumer society with all its key shortcomings such as obsession with the material component of life, the desire to achieve personal success, ignoring the historically established norms of morality, etc. In the context of the issue of civilizational choice becoming more important as well as a wide range of problems caused by its absence, we analyze the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation - the key federal documents that reflect basic principles of the existing dynamics and future prospects of national development. We come to the conclusion that the ruling elites do not work to form the spiritual and moral foundations of Russian society; consequently, the goals they set are focused on solving material problems only, which makes public administration similar to corporate governance. This poses one of the key threats to national security and national development and makes it necessary to hold a broad discussion initiated primarily by the government and aimed to consider practical possibilities and prospects for the implementation of the basic principles of the social state contained in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Бесплатно
The special military operation reveals new features of civil society
Статья научная
Eight months have passed since the RF President announced the launch of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine (February 24, 2022); thus, currently Russia is facing a global political situation that has become more turbulent. Difficulties on the front line, frequent terrorist attacks, military aid to the Kiev regime from NATO countries all this urged the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the RF Armed Forces to make tough but necessary decisions that could not but affect the majority of Russian society. The paper analyzes key events related to the special military operation, as well as the decisions promptly taken by the President in accordance with the requirements of the time and the situation on the front line. We focus on some of the President’s decisions, such as the announcement of partial military mobilization (September 21, 2022); amendments to the RF Criminal Code aimed to strengthen discipline in the army and society during martial law and wartime (September 24, 2022); accession of new territories to Russia - the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Kherson and Zaporozhye oblasts (October 5, 2022); large-scale precision missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, military communications and command posts (October 10, 2022); introduction of martial law in the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the establishment of special measures to ensure security of all regions of the Russian Federation (19 October 2022). We analyze public opinion trends and the results of the Single Voting Day (September 11, 2022), which are considered as indicators of public sentiment in the hard times that our country is facing. On the whole, our research has shown that the alarming political situation on the global arena, as well as the tough decisions adopted by the head of state in recent months, revealed new features in Russian civil society, provoked changes in the people’s internal awareness of the scale of threats to national security. This, in particular, was expressed in the following: many Russians are participating in the special military operation as volunteers; volunteer aid is increasing; in society, there is strong condemnation of those who left Russia after the start of the special operation; all the social strata are consolidating around the RF President; the above trends are observed in the dynamics of public opinion assessments. All these factors can play an important role in Russia’s crossing its internal Rubicon in the form of the reorientation of broad strata of Russian society, and above all its elite groups, from the Western development dogmas imposed during the 30th anniversary of the market transformation toward nationally oriented goals and values.
Бесплатно
Статья научная
June 23-24, 2023, Russia witnessed an attempt of an armed rebellion committed by the private military company Wagner headed by businessman Evgenii Prigozhin. Despite the rapid relief of the crisis, many experts note that it has deep and long-lasting implications for the public administration system, the President and Russia as a whole. We consider the causes and consequences of the events that occurred on June 23-24, drawing on our knowledge and experience accumulated during many years of monitoring the effectiveness of public administration, which includes the analysis of expert opinions, findings of diverse empirical studies regarding the state of Russian society, and the study of key regulatory legal acts and strategic documents adopted at the federal level. We think that the attempt to start a rebellion manifests a long-term crisis of statehood, which was caused by the clan-oligarchic structure of the public administration system flourishing in Russia in the post-Soviet period. We analyze certain aspects of the formation of the worldview of the modern extremely liberal ruling elite, provide concrete facts that indicate that the liberal wing of the government does not implement the President's decrees and instructions effectively, and evaluate the role of the public administration system in the formation and implementation of the Social Contract as an informal institution representing a set of mutual obligations between the state and society. We conclude that there is an urgent need for decisive action (first of all, on the part of the President) on the personnel renewal in the public administration system; it is also necessary to staff the system with people focused on Russia's national interests rather than liberal values of the Collective West, the people that have successful experience in solving complex managerial and economic tasks, especially in crisis conditions and in the context of the special military operation. Like many experts, we believe that in this case the public administration system will be able to provide an adequate response to an unprecedented range of internal and external challenges created by increasing threats to national security and global geopolitical changes that led to the special military operation.
Бесплатно
Transitional forms of universal basic income as a real prospect for Russia
Статья научная
The article presents the research results aimed at developing the theoretical provisions of the universal basic income concept summarizing and systematizing the results of a survey of Russian experts conducted by the authors about its principles, the possibilities of introduction in Russia, priority population categories for testing it, assessing the reality of expanding the tools of universal basic income taking into account the development of transitional forms of its use during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work reveals the relevance of UBI concept development in the context of the need to overcome mass poverty in Russia. The result of the theoretical analysis shows that generally recognized UBI principles (universality, unconditionality, individual nature of monetary payments, their regularity) are justified by long-term trends in social policy evolution. The prospect of introducing universal basic income is presented as a qualitative transition (leap) in implementation of the latter. The social policy measures, closest to implementation of UBI principles, are characterized as its transitional forms including experiments on its introduction. To assess the practical feasibility of UBI transitional forms, the article uses the results of a survey of experts from different Russian regions conducted with the authors' participation and a pilot experiment and modeling of the results of UBI toolkit implementation. The paper proposes a possible scheme for implementing UBI tools in Russia, as well as pilot projects for low-income families with children, graduates of universities and secondary vocational educational institutions during the transition from study to the first place of work, the unstable employed (including the unemployed). The authors assess the paradox of activating the implementation of UBI principles in the context of the COVID-2019 pandemic under unfavorable financial conditions as confirming the reality of the prospects for its transitional forms for Russia. The results of the study can contribute to the development of discussions about the introduction of UBI tools in the Russian Federation, and to the promotion of its wide experimental testing for different population categories. It is advisable to continue research in the aspect of analyzing the experience of developing social support in the context of a pandemic and modeling the possible effects and costs of introducing UBI.
Бесплатно
Статья научная
Since 2008, in the Editorial section of the journal, we have been monitoring the effectiveness of public administration; this helps us to analyze the consistent steps that the President makes in order to build new foundations of the Russian statehood, which was, in fact, completely destroyed in 1991. Besides, we assess the effectiveness of the President’s decisions from the point of view of the broad strata of the Russian population (voters), whose opinion is one of the main criteria for the effectiveness of the public administration system and the work of the head of state. In order to form an objective and unbiased view of the events and processes taking place in Russia and abroad, we use assessments obtained from a wide range of specialists in various fields: political analysts, economists, sociologists, philosophers, representatives of civil society. No less important is our regular access to a significant number of statistical, sociological, Russian and foreign databases; by using them comprehensively, we can look at the situation in the country and assess the effectiveness of public administration from the point of view of not only individual experts, but also voters. The main information source of sociological data in our research is the public opinion monitoring that we have been conducting in the Vologda Oblast since 1996. Regularly, once every two months, we carry out a survey covering 1.5 thousand residents of the region, thus obtaining an average annual “cross-section” of public opinion based on the estimates of nine thousand voters representing the main social strata and groups that differ in income, territory of residence, employment, marital status, education and many other socio-demographic characteristics. Due to a monitoring nature of the research, we can observe how, in the course of time, the events and decisions taken by the head of state are lined up in a clear, consistent, logically verified line, which many experts can see. But the majority of voters who observe “with the naked eye” the situation in the country and the actions of the authorities, do not see this line, because it is perceived on a subconscious and routine level, that is, based on the general opinion prevailing in their environment and stereotypes that people develop through their own life experience, the experience of relatives and friends (including negative life experience of the 1990s). This is why our editorial articles often supplement the analysis of latest events and processes in Russia and abroad with a retrospective look at the management decisions that preceded them. We pay special attention to the principle of historicism, and in this regard it is important for us to build a chronology of events. The current article is the last one in 2021; it briefly summarizes the analysis of public administration effectiveness in the context of Vladimir Putin’s presidential terms, with an emphasis on the first four years of the fourth presidential cycle (2018-2021).
Бесплатно
Unusual clarity. Russia is no longer the West
Статья научная
Of the struggle for a multipolar world and for the independence of all national states fighting to preserve and strengthen their national sovereignty against the hegemony of the United States and its satellites. At the same time, making things clear regarding Russia’s foreign policy guidelines allows the President to further improve domestic policy, bring it in line with the status of Russia as a country-civilization in terms of strengthening the foundations of public administration, achieving full national sovereignty and social justice. The article analyzes the adoption of a new Foreign Policy Concept as the President’s next step in the implementation of the general course of national development that he has been in charge of for the past 23 years. We present the relevant expert assessments and the dynamics of public opinion regarding the activities of the head of state. We also look into objective historical prerequisites that determined the specifics of a new Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, as well as some key tasks that are coming to the fore in domestic policy after the adoption of the Concept. of the struggle for a multipolar world and for the independence of all national states fighting to preserve and strengthen their national sovereignty against the hegemony of the United States and its satellites. At the same time, making things clear regarding Russia’s foreign policy guidelines allows the President to further improve domestic policy, bring it in line with the status of Russia as a country-civilization in terms of strengthening the foundations of public administration, achieving full national sovereignty and social justice. The article analyzes the adoption of a new Foreign Policy Concept as the President’s next step in the implementation of the general course of national development that he has been in charge of for the past 23 years. We present the relevant expert assessments and the dynamics of public opinion regarding the activities of the head of state. We also look into objective historical prerequisites that determined the specifics of a new Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, as well as some key tasks that are coming to the fore in domestic policy after the adoption of the Concept.
Бесплатно
Статья научная
On September 17–19, 2021, the election to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation took place in Russia. The article analyzes the outcome of the vote according to official data of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. The results of the past elections are considered broken down by federal district, constituent entity, and municipality of the Russian Federation. We analyze the dynamics of the outcome of the parliamentary elections for the period from 2007 to 2021. The results of the latest election are compared with the results of the RF presidential election (2018) and the all-Russian referendum on amendments to the Constitution (2020). We consider the latest parliamentary election in a broad context – as part of the internal Russian political process. In this regard, a significant part of the article is devoted to the analysis of specific managerial decisions made by the Russian President and aimed at addressing the issue of forming a new, post-Soviet statehood, the key elements of which were revealed in the President’s article “Russia at the turn of the Millennium” (1999). Official statistics, independent experts’ assessments and sociological research findings allow us to say that the head of state has adopted comprehensive and consistent decisions to achieve the tasks he formulated in 1999 (the Russian idea, a strong state, an efficient economy); but so far, not all the goals stated in these tasks have been achieved. At a meeting with deputies of the State Duma of the eighth convocation the President noted that the low level of Russians’ income was the main obstacle to stable development and demographic future. And it is the most objective self-assessment of the effectiveness of the entire system of public administration.
Бесплатно
What will Putin bequeath to his successor in 2024?
Статья научная
In accordance with the title of the journal Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast, in the editorial article we analyze objective and real trends and facts in Russia’s domestic and foreign political and socio-economic life. Trying to distance ourselves from a subjective viewpoint, we rely in our analysis on the assessments given by experts from different fields of knowledge (economists, sociologists, public figures, etc.), as well as on a long-term database of sociological data, formed on the results of our own observations for the period since 1996 up to the present time. For more than 20 years now, every two months, we analyze the data of a sociological monitoring, which shows that there are significant and largely positive changes in the President’s foreign policy, but the dynamics of the domestic socio-economic situation in Russia are stagnant: during the period from 2000 to the present time, the key issues of concern to people have not changed, and the relevance of many of them has even increased...
Бесплатно
Where does the soullessness of the ruling elites lead?
Статья научная
On April 21, 2021, President V.V. Putin once again addressed the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and outlined the country's key upcoming development areas. Presidential Address was mostly social and aimed at solving domestic problems: comprehensive support for population and business in the “post-covid” period, restoration of the economy and social sphere's normal functioning, as well as the ability of the Government to maintain health of citizens and improve the demographic situation. The President touched upon many important issues that were demanded by a wide range of Russian society, gave instructions to the Government of the Russian Federation and regional authorities, and announced specific measures to support people in difficult life situations. Meanwhile, the issues of Russia's foreign policy and its positioning within the framework of international relations remained basically outside this Presidential Address. The President only hinted that “those behind provocations that threaten the core interests of our security will regret what they have done in a way they have not regretted anything for a long time”, “we ourselves will determine in each specific case where the red line will be drawn with regard to Russia”. However, as many experts note, after the victory of J. Biden in the US presidential election, there was the beginning of the culmination of the struggle between global forces for the return of dominant positions in the world that they have gradually lost over the past decades, for a unipolar or multipolar form of the future world order, prospects for the transition of world civilization from modernism to postmodernism. In these conditions, the issues related to Russia's civilizational self-determination and awareness of a kind of the state we are building, reasons that prevent us from effectively implementing the welfare state principles in the country, many of which were embodied in the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in July 2020, become more relevant than ever.
Бесплатно
Статья научная
The article deals with the problem of poverty and other consequences of the inefficient current system of public administration. The current state of affairs concerning the implementation of the May 2012 decrees, the long-term dynamics of official statistics and sociological surveys, concrete facts, and assessments of many experts suggest that the orientation of the ruling elites toward obtaining personal benefits is the main threat to the implementation of the tasks set out by the President (overcoming the lag; finding breakthrough solutions to the country's internal problems) and to the achievement of specific development indicators that he pointed out in the Address to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018. The article provides information on major results of the 2012 and 2018 presidential elections indicating a significantly increasing support for Vladimir Putin in Russian society (especially in large cities) and at the same time the people's rising hopes for his showing the political will and making decisive action on the nationalization of the elites that hinder the implementation of national interests in the dynamic development of the standard of living and quality of life...
Бесплатно
“Intellectual feebleness” of the ruling elites and the “deep people” of the “long state”
Статья научная
In 2018, Russian society faced a contradiction, caused by the discrepancy between the official political rhetoric and the real actions of the Government. Instead of the priorities stated in the President's Address to the Federal Assembly and in the “May decree” (reducing poverty twofold, Russia's joining the top five economies of the world, etc.), the society was faced with the need to take a “bitter medicine” in the form of raising the retirement age. Moreover, the news about the changes in pension legislation reached the general public just after the inauguration of the President (the inauguration took place on May 7, 2018, and the draft law on the pension reform was submitted to the State Duma on June 16). The initial reaction to the pension reform was adamantly negative: according to the surveys conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation, almost 80% of Russians were against the reform. Over the following months, a wave of protests swept across the country and stopped only after Vladimir Putin made an official appeal to the Russian people on August 29 and explained that the pension system has to be reformed; he proposed some adjustments that would soften some conditions of the reform for certain population groups. However, despite the fact that the visible signs of public discontent (protests, critical articles, etc.) are gradually fading, the level of people's support for the authorities, including the President of the Russian Federation, continued to decline; fundamental changes began to take place in the public consciousness, and such changes are of a long-term nature. This fact proves that the pension reform only triggered a more profound internal discontent that has been accumulating over the last years. Thus, at the beginning of 2019, the fundamental question concerning the legitimacy of power in Russia became one of the most pressing and urgent for society and authorities with regard to actual implementation of the tasks set out in the “May Decree”, qualitative growth of the standard of living and, by and large, preservation of the Russian statehood. A deep and ideologically saturated article of V. Putin's personal adviser V. Surkov, which was published in February 2019, addresses this very issue (as some experts think), and it has caused a wide resonance in the academic, political and social environment. The following materials present our views on Surkov's article and on a significant set of issues raised in it. The conclusions we come to are supported not only by the results of our own studies of the long-term dynamics of public opinion, but also by expert assessments, which largely reflect the real situation in the country.
Бесплатно
Статья научная
December 12, 2018 marked the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The paper provides our own assessment of the implementation of one of the main provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation: “The Russian Federation is a social State whose policy is aimed at creating conditions for a worthy life and a free development of man” (Article 7). We define and substantiate the criteria of efficiency of implementation of this provision; we also provide the data of foreign, Russian and regional sociological studies that reflect a subjective assessment of the dynamics of living standards and quality of life by Russians. We pay special attention to public administration efficiency in overcoming social inequality and achieving social justice. Ultimately, we raise the questions whether Russia is a social state, how far it has advanced in this direction over the past 25 years, and what its prospects can be in the near future.
Бесплатно
