Article
Traditions and recent developments in learning in later life in the Russian Federation
After the economic and ideological changes of the 1990’s older people in Russia have shifted to become the most vulnerable, poor and disrespected group in the country’s population. However, despite the slowly recovering birth rate and low life expectancy, the older population is predicted to constitute almost a quarter of the Russian population (24.8%) in 2016.
However, so called “people’s universities” have long been part of the Soviet tradition and were renewed mostly for the education for older people in the post-Soviet era. Mostly they are supported by non-profit organisations and offer informal education on a range of topics and crafts. These programmes have proved to be enjoyed by older learners and are recognised to be major contributors to active ageing in Russia. Nevertheless, their numbers and capacities are not sufficient to respond to the variety of needs and interests of older people. At the same time large formal educational institutions such as universities do not usually consider the older population to be a target audience for their programmes.
Nevertheless, some political steps have been made by a few Russian regions. This article reports on a national survey of University of the Third Age-type provision for older people in eight cities nationwide. For example, in the Republic of Bashkortostan a region-wide governmentally sponsored programme, “Third Age Universities for All”, came into operation in 2011. A small survey of U3A students in one city is reported. It suggests that while the programme needs to be amended in many ways, it sets a worthwhile precedent and hopefully will be followed by other regions.
Analyzes the impact of large-scale economic, political, and demographic forces on various segments of the nonprofit sector.
This paper aims to find nonprofit organizations place in Russian economy. Using national and regional data on nonprofit organizations, the author explores the Russian nonprofit sector structure and changes in output of Russian NPO. The findings reveal, firstly, the concentration of these organizations in club goods provision and advocacy fields, whereas there is services-dominant nonprofit sector in many developed countries. Secondly, NPO output figures demonstrate significant fluctuations and a marked decrease of nonprofit share of services production. Thirdly, it is assumed that NPO in Russian Federation regions are strongly influenced by specific factors causing significant differences in their development.
In this new, fully revised edition of America’s Nonprofit Sector, renowned author Lester Salamon clarifies the scope, structure, finances, and operation of the nonprofit sector and examines how it has changed over time, both generally and in major fields like health care, education, arts, and religion.
This paper is aimed at applying and analyzing international active ageing indices in Russia, including the Active Ageing Index (AAI), developed by European Centre Vienna, and Global AgeWatch Index by HelpAge International, to provide the base for cross-national comparison and development of a comprehensive national policy on active ageing. Our research was motivated by the following questions (1) to what extent can the international approaches to measure active ageing be applied to the Russian context and data? (2) to what extent a country’s position in the ranking is sensitive to the index methodology and data used? (3) whether and under what conditions Russia can improve its positions in the active ageing indices? To answer these questions, we estimated the AAI for Russia based on eight data sources and recalculated some of the AgeWatch Index results based on reliable data. The methodology of both indices and the quality and adequacy of the data used are discussed in detail in the paper. The results show that ranking of Russia according to these indices varies considerably from the 65th place out of 96 countries by the Global AgeWatch Index to the 18th place among 29 countries (28 EU countries plus Russia) by the AAI. Nevertheless, both indices draw rather similar pictures of active ageing potential in Russia. We provide some recommendations on how the indicators can be modified to capture some peculiarities of the ageing context in Russia and other countries with similar demographic, economic and social context.
This article discusses an important issue of older people’s image in the modern world. The authors’ research results demonstrate that perceptions of older people in Russia are quite controversial, but overall are rather negative. Poverty, inadequacy to the modern world (both in terms of life experience and adaptability to the modern life style), passiveness and concentration on the family and home were reported by the respondents as qualities most typical for older people. However, these perceptions change towards more positive ones while talking about older people they know closely and expectations towards their own older age appear to be more of active ageing, active life style.
Contribution to major analytical volume on the nonprofit sector in the US, providing comprehensive overview of roles of nonprofit in core service areas as well as broad trends in the sector.
In this second edition of this immensely successful volume, Lester Salamon and his colleagues offer an overview of the current state of America’s nonprofit sector, examining the forces that are shaping its future and identifying the changes that might be needed. This edition has been completely revised and updated to reflect changing political realities and the punishing economic climate currently battering the nonprofit sector, which faces significant financial challenges during a time when its services are needed more than ever.
The article features an analysis of a set of measures of government support for socially oriented nonprofit organizations (SO NPOs) enacted in 2009 – 2013 in Russia. The analysis is aimed at assessing this Russian regulatory framework designed to channel government support to SO NPOs by comparing it with tools of government employed to facilitate cross-sector partnership in the delivery of social services in selected foreign countries. For a theoretical framework of the investigation of interaction between government and SO NPOs we rely on the demand / supply model and in particular on the theory of market and government “failure”. The employed empirical material includes full-text versions of relevant Russian Federal norms and regulations, selected matching documents of foreign countries as well as data of sociological surveys of Russian NPOs conducted by NRU HSE. Firstly, principles used by Russian law-makers to define legally the subsector of SO NPOs are investigated. The analysis of tools of government support introduced by the enacted norms and regulations is then arranged by major form of support: financial, transfer of property rights, tax incentives etc. Data is featured on the scope of government support for SO NOPs at the federal level of government and in part at the level of regions. International comparisons follow. Overall the set of measures discussed constitutes a serious positive innovation in Russian government practices vis-à-vis SO NPOs. It shows substantial similarity to government tool kits employed to support NPOs elsewhere in the world. This relates to criteria of legal eligibility for support and to the composition of the tool kit, which includes government subsidies / grants, tax incentives etc. There remains room for expansion of the Russian tool kit. In implementing new legal norms attention must be paid to keeping administrative barriers for access to government support reasonably low, in particular for small NPOs constituting a majority in the Russian nonprofit sector.
In 2006, Russia amended its competition law and added the concepts of ‘collective dominance’ and its abuse. This was seen as an attempt to address the common problem of ‘conscious parallelism’ among firms in concentrated industries. Critics feared that the enforcement of this provision would become tantamount to government regulation of prices. In this paper we examine the enforcement experience to date, looking especially closely at sanctions imposed on firms in the oil industry. Some difficulties and complications experienced in enforcement are analysed, and some alternative strategies for addressing anticompetitive behaviour in concentrated industries discussed.
The article is devoted to the study of the authoritarianism prevalent in the mass consciousness of Russians. The article describes a new approach to the consideration of the authoritarian syndrome as the effects of the cultural trauma as a result of political and socio-cultural transformation of society. The article shows the dynamics of the symptoms of the authoritarianism, which appear in the mass consciousness of Russians from 1993 to 2011. This paper proposes a package of measures aimed at reducing the level of the authoritarianism in Russian society.
This work looks at a model of spatial election competition with two candidates who can spend effort in order to increase their popularity through advertisement. It is shown that under certain condition the political programs of the candidates will be different. The work derives the comparative statics of equilibrium policy platform and campaign spending with respect the distribution of voter policy preferences and the proportionality of the electoral system. In particular, it is whown that the equilibrium does not exist if the policy preferences are distributed over too narrow an interval.
The article examines "regulatory requirements" as a subject of state control over business in Russia. The author deliberately does not use the term "the rule of law". The article states that a set of requirements for business is wider than the legislative regulation.
First, the article analyzes the regulatory nature of the requirements, especially in the technical field. The requirements are considered in relation to the rule of law. The article explores approaches to the definition of regulatory requirements in Russian legal science. The author analyzes legislation definitions for a set of requirements for business. The author concludes that regulatory requirements are not always identical to the rule of law. Regulatory requirements are a set of obligatory requirements for entrepreneurs’ economic activity. Validation failure leads to negative consequences.
Second, the article analyzes the problems of the regulatory requirements in practice. Lack of information about the requirements, their irrelevance and inconsistency are problems of the regulatory requirements in Russia.
Many requirements regulating economic activity are not compatible with the current development level of science and technology. The problems are analyzed on the basis of the Russian judicial practice and annual monitoring reports by Higher School of Economics.
Finally, the author provides an approach to the possible solution of the regulatory requirements’ problem. The author proposes to create a nationwide Internet portal about regulatory requirements. The portal should contain full information about all regulatory requirements. The author recommends extending moratorium on the use of the requirements adopted by the bodies and organizations of the former USSR government.