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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance (2018)
This work serves as a comprehensive collection of global scholarship regarding the vast fields of public administration and public policy. Written and edited by leading international scholars and practitioners, this exhaustive resource covers all areas of the twin fields of study. In keeping with the multidisciplinary spirit of these fields, the entries make use of various theoretical, empirical, analytical, practical, and methodological bases of knowledge. The encyclopedia provides a snapshot of the most current research in public administration and public policy, covering such important areas as: 1. organization theory, behavior, change and development 2. administrative theory and practice 3. bureaucracy 4. public budgeting and financial management 5. public finance and public management 6. public personnel and labor-management relations 7. crisis and emergency management 8. institutional theory and public administration 9. law and regulations 10. ethics and accountability Relevant to professionals, experts, scholars, general readers, and students worldwide, this work will serve as the most viable global reference source for those looking for an introduction to the field.
The article deals with mechanisms of public control in the Russian system of government procurement. The reasons of insufficient activity of citizens and public organizations at the implementation of the control functions is analyzed.
The article covers the problem of the illegal evasion of taxes by individuals or organizations (corporations), commonly associated with the informal economy and sometimes with the criminal behavior of the entrepreneurs.
This article is devoted to studying of the peculiarities of city-level officials’ professional activity in Russia, namely the relevant competencies comprising the base of their specialties. The state’s recently increased determination to standardize the sector of employment has been reflected in development of professional codes for many professions. But government and municipal employees are practically excluded from this process.
The article discusses the phenomena of charitable giving and philanthropy, demonstrates differences between formal and informal volunteering, pro bono activities. The author indicates cultural differences and economic significance of volunteering, then describes what the predictors and effects of giving and volunteering are. Debates around costs, effectiveness, and social impact of giving and volunteering are also highlighted in the article.
The article covers issues of irony and humor development that can provide an idea of the nonlinear, rhizome characteristics of a modern culture that lacks distinct borders. Their daily usage leads to what were traditionally considered exclusive categories (power, sexuality, and death) now playing the roles of cultural categories that heuristically describe modern social situations. Irony and humor unite diverse elements into a dynamic, conceptual unity, thus opening the way for interpretation ambiguity. They act as the basis for the dynamic association of various elements of modern culture, which suggests the dynamic demonstration of their roles in reflecting the discourse of modern culture and modern social action.
In the later decade Russia continued progress in terms of economic growth and lowering poverty. Yet Russia was much less successful in reducing inequality which skyrocketed after the market liberalization reforms in the early 1990s. Currently inequality in Russia has stabilized at the level which is significantly above the OECD average: the average Gini coefficient for the OECD countries in 2014 was 0.318, while it was 0.416 in Russia. Current macroeconomic environment with continuous recession, which started in 2014 and massive terms of trade shock due to collapse of oil prices, threatens to reverse Russia’s substantial achievements in terms of raising incomes of the population and reducing poverty. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of income and wealth inequality in Russia and the impact of the current crisis. The focus throughout the chapter is on the national distribution of income and wealth. In market economies income and wealth serve as good predictors of well-being in other domains, such as social inclusion, education, health, etc.
A period of qualitative changes in Russia has led to the transformation of many social aspects, including the social structure. Unsurprisingly, its specific features and certain social groups and strata are of particular interest at the moment. Both the scientific community and the general public are traditionally interested in the social entity of middle class. The term “middle class”, however, does not have a universal definition. Its meaning has been changing along with the social development and social structure transformations, depending on the historical context of a society. Moreover, several conceptually different approaches to identifying the middle class were emerging separately (due to the fact that middle class analysis was based on different goals and objectives that required different methodologies). In Russia, there is ongoing theoretical debate over the necessary and sufficient conditions for classifying an individual or a household as middle-class. Arguments for existence of the middle class in the country are quite often completely different as a result of diverse approaches and respective criteria, as well as the chosen thresholds, for identifying the sought-for middle class. Differences in the methodology of middle class identification lead to a considerable spread in the estimates of its share, from 2-3% to at least half of the population. Chapter presents different approaches to middle class definition, brief history of middle class studies in Russia and main results concerning specifics of Russian middle class from different research studies.
The current article describes the state of the art, institutional design, and a historical overview on how strategic management in public administration developed in post-Soviet Russia till 2017. Strategic attempts in public administration run contemporarily, and they evolve. After the 13th 5-year Soviet plan was revoked in 1991 along with the collapse of the Soviet Union itself, it took Russia 9 years to come back to the concept of planning as a governing procedure. Since then, Russia had several iterations in the development of a national long-term strategy and performed vast activity in introduction of strategic routines into public administration. As for the end of 2016, Russian system of strategic management in public administration is passing through an institutional reform.
The reference point overviews retirement contributions in Russia. It discusses the dynamics of its level and sources of payment, compares it with other countries, as well as discusses the structure of financing of Russian pension system
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As defined by the OECD and following the international practice, social spending includes all public costs incurred by paying benefits, providing goods and services, as well as tax deductions and discounts, made for social purposes. Among the beneficiaries of these payments and services may be low-income households or certain social groups, such as the retired, disabled, sick and temporarily disabled people, unemployed, and some others. Social spending is generated by such systems as pension plans, healthcare, education (the OECD statistics covers only early childhood education and care), labor market programs, housing, and family policies. This spending is aimed at redistributing resources across households or targets all the citizens and implies compulsory participation. Apart from the definition above, some Russian authors interpret public social spending broader and include funding of the ...
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This encyclopedia entry discusses the contested understanding of the notion of civil society on a global scale. This essay suggests differentiating the definitions of civil society in the Western and Eastern tradition. Lately, the idea of civil society was conceptualized in Western tradition as an aggregation of a plethora of charities and politically engaged nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This encyclopedia entry argues that cultural context defines civil society institutions and suggests new conceptualization of civil society suitable for Eastern tradition. The entry discusses the distinguishing features of civil society in Russia, which can be found in many other Post-Soviet countries and, generally, in most countries of Eastern tradition.
This piece analyzes the level and structure of seniors’ incomes in Russia as well as absolute poverty dynamics of Russian pensioners. For the purpose of this study, we define the threshold of old age as the retirement age – 55 for women, 60 for men. The main sources for the data include the regularly compiled statistics by the Russian Federal State Statistics Committee (Rosstat), 2010 Russian national census, and 2015 micro-census, as well as surveys carried out by Rosstat and the Russian longitudinal monitoring survey of NRU-HSE (RLMS-HSE).
Within a sociological context, professionalism is increasingly examined on the macro level as a universal social phenomenon that is evolving in diverse ways throughout modern societies. Approaching professionalism from a phenomenological perspective entails investigating it at the micro level; such as examining group communication in the labor process, during which meanings are produced that are shared by members of a professional group. The professionalism and professionalization in Russia are presented in this entry within the theoretical framework known as the “critical ecology of the professions”; a research direction that seeks to reconcile the macro and micro levels of professionalism and combine wider views of certain institutional universals with knowledge of local cultural contexts and the specific contexts of various occupational groups. This approach combines the theoretical lens of critical ecology with a neo-Weberian stance that understands professionalism as emerging from a system of arguments that support the upward mobility of members of a particular occupation. The professionalization here is treated as a fluid and multifaceted phenomenon. The authors show how the processes behind it have evolved across the shifting contexts of prerevolutionary, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia.
Definitions: State is a type of polity that is characterized by two main dimensions: “statehood” and “stateness.” Statehood is the recognition of the state by other states as independent nation, equal to others to participate on international arena; receiving and having the “statehood” for country mean that it is a part of the “concert of nations,” such as the member of the United Nations organization. Stateness is a state capacity to sustain its territory, nation, and citizens’ welfare; it is not enough being recognized by other states as such, but also important to support this status in time
The administration, organization, and planning performed for cities or towns, particularly the process of converting farmland or undeveloped land into offices, businesses, housing, and other forms of development.
Organizing and regulating influence of public authorities on the activity of the population of the region, in order to streamline and reproduce, based on their power force.
A course of action undertaken in a particular region with jurisdiction and powers of public servants to organize the production, placement, and development of productive forces and improvement of ways of involving in economic circulation of resources of the territories, based on national economic interests.
A course of action adopted and pursued by government, business, or some other organization, which seeks to improve or develop cities or towns through land use planning, water resource management, central city development, policing and criminal justice, or pollution control.
Differences between Nonprofit Agencies and Membership Associations
Sociological Study of Nonprofit Organizations.
This work serves as a comprehensive collection of global scholarship regarding the vast fields of public administration and public policy. Written and edited by leading international scholars and practitioners, this exhaustive resource covers all areas of the twin fields of study. In keeping with the multidisciplinary spirit of these fields, the entries make use of various theoretical, empirical, analytical, practical, and methodological bases of knowledge. The encyclopedia provides a snapshot of the most current research in public administration and public policy, covering such important areas as: 1. organization theory, behavior, change and development 2. administrative theory and practice 3. bureaucracy 4. public budgeting and financial management 5. public finance and public management 6. public personnel and labor-management relations 7. crisis and emergency management 8. institutional theory and public administration 9. law and regulations 10. ethics and accountability Relevant to professionals, experts, scholars, general readers, and students worldwide, this work will serve as the most viable global reference source for those looking for an introduction to the field.
According to the author, the quality of political parties and public administration are highly dependent on the ability of the citizens to self-organization, their concernment in public aff airs and also the extent government bodies are interested in cooperation with social structures.
The article presents an analysis of the development of metropolitan areas in Mexico and in the State of Hidalgo.
The author explores the reasons behind the crisis of single industry towns, possibilities and challenges of public private partnership in such towns, presenting foreign experience of transformation of old industrial territories and giving recommendations aimed at increasing efficiency of public policy concerning single industry towns.
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One of the most important indicators of company's success is the increase of its value. The article investigates traditional methods of company's value assessment and the evidence that the application of these methods is incorrect in the new stage of economy. So it is necessary to create a new method of valuation based on the new main sources of company's success that is its intellectual capital.
Russian federal agencies have created a variety of consultative bodies during the last decade, but their role in the agency's decision-making process is yet to be evaluated. Relevant experience of other countries proposes two major political factors of consultative bodies' influence. The political culture orientation towards compromise and positive perception of interest groups' participation in the decision-making process seem to contribute to that influence.
Smoking is a problem, bringing signifi cant social and economic costs to Russiansociety. However, ratifi cation of the World health organization Framework conventionon tobacco control makes it possible to improve Russian legislation accordingto the international standards. So, I describe some measures that should be taken bythe Russian authorities in the nearest future, and I examine their effi ciency. By studyingthe international evidence I analyze the impact of the smoke-free areas, advertisementand sponsorship bans, tax increases, etc. on the prevalence of smoking, cigaretteconsumption and some other indicators. I also investigate the obstacles confrontingthe Russian authorities when they introduce new policy measures and the public attitudetowards these measures. I conclude that there is a number of easy-to-implementanti-smoking activities that need no fi nancial resources but only a political will.
The Working Paper examines the peculiarities of the Russian model of corporate governance and control in the banking sector. The study relies upon theoretical as well as applied research of corporate governance in Russian commercial banks featuring different forms of ownership. We focus on real interests of all stakeholders, namely bank and stock market regulators, bank owners, investors, top managers and other insiders. The Anglo-American concept of corporate governance, based on agency theory and implying outside investors’ control over banks through stock market, is found to bear limited relevance. We suggest some ways of overcoming the gap between formal institutions of governance and the real life.
We address the external effects on public sector efficiency measures acquired using Data Envelopment Analysis. We use the health care system in Russian regions in 2011 to evaluate modern approaches to accounting for external effects. We propose a promising method of correcting DEA efficiency measures. Despite the multiple advantages DEA offers, the usage of this approach carries with it a number of methodological difficulties. Accounting for multiple factors of efficiency calls for more complex methods, among which the most promising are DMU clustering and calculating local production possibility frontiers. Using regression models for estimate correction requires further study due to possible systematic errors during estimation. A mixture of data correction and DMU clustering together with multi-stage DEA seems most promising at the moment. Analyzing several stages of transforming society’s resources into social welfare will allow for picking out the weak points in a state agency’s work.