Book chapter
The Distribution of Powers and Responsibilities between the State and Local Governments in Education: Examining Russian Policy
The balance between the powers of federal and regional authorities and local government in education is in focus. Twenty years ago democratization, pluralism and variability, national character, regionalization of the educational system and openness of education were named as main driven forces of the reform in education. Nowadays situation is examined through the federal laws (On Education, 1992, 2012; On General Principles of the Local Self-government, 1995, 2003) and the regional legislation (Samara region).
In book
The major challenge of local governments in the eight countries under review (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine) over the past twenty years has been adjusting to the narrowing role and size of government, and the resulting reduction in local resources, while attempting to maintain the high quality of social services provided at the local level during the Soviet period.
During the last years, positive trends have been seen in some countries in the field of decentralization. In Armenia, the list of local taxes and duties was enlarged in 2010. In Ukraine, the concept of Local Government Reform was recently approved, and a new framework for local self-government legislation is currently being developed. In 2010, Belarus adopted a law on Local Government and Self-government.
However, in other countries, centralization tendencies are being observed: a reduced level of tax autonomy in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia; a nomination of local self-government heads by the central government in Kyrgyzstan; the reorganization of local governments in Georgia; as well as limitations to expenditure autonomy of local governments in Russia.
The recent financial crisis has revealed weaknesses within the local finance system of some of the Eurasian countries, while in other countries local budgets seem to be doing better than central/regional ones due to their reliance on the most stable revenues sources.
In the article it is examined the key approaches to the management of educational systems within modernization of education in Russia. It is demonstrated the principal differences in management for the educational institution and educational organization. It is described the capabilities provided for the development of educational institutions within 174-Federal Law and 83 — Fedeal Law. It is underlined the decisive role of the agreed values of the participants in educational process for the results of the educational development system.
The article investigates the influence of social environment on the current state and problem areas of the Russian educational system. The urgency of the philosophicalsociological and philosophical-cultural analysis of education is dictated by the need to identify those factors of social environment that have the greatest impact on the system of education in the contemporary conditions of a post-industrial civilization with its deeply imbedded tendencies towards globalization and profound changes in the area of information and communication patterns, which all have a formative effect on value consciousness, especially - and primarily - that of younger generations.
This SFI pamphlet provides a Policy Briefing on the critical and ubiquitous role being performed by benchmarking in public services both in the UK and internationally. It complements and partly draws on a special issue of Public Money and Management edited by me and Alan Fenna which also addresses these issues, and which includes some overlapping material treated in greater depth, and with comprehensive references (see Public services benchmarking and external performance assessment: An international perspective. Guest editors: Clive Grace and Alan Fenna (Vol. 33, No. 4, 2013) at http://www.tandfonline.com/r/pmm-benchmarking).
The article is dedicated to the functioning of the law and local government system which was created by the Ottomans to control their Balcan lands. Local conflict management is considered in the multiethnic and multiconfessional environment. The paper also focuses on the synthesis of secular and Islamic traditions in Ottoman legislature, as well as the way law influenced the historical development of the Balcan nations.
This report analyzes the architecture of fiscal decentralization in one hundred and ten countries as well as in major metropolitan areas. In the majority of these countries, local authorities are taking on more and more responsibilities for public investment and the provision of services that are essential for both economic development and the well being of their citizens. If increasing fiscal decentralization has been a global trend in recent decades, there are significant variations across and within regions and countries. Local budgets make up on average 25% of public expenditure in the countries of the European Union but less than 5% in many developing countries. Decentralization in terms of revenue and expenditure autonomy has also increased, however this has been uneven across countries and has seen greater advances in expenditure than in revenues, where sources remain limited and uncertain, especially for small and middle size cities. With accelerating urbanization and important shifts in the global context (climate change, increasing risk of natural disaster, migration, and demographic changes among others), current funding levels are insufficient for local governments to respond to the urbanization of poverty, growing investment requirements and other pressing needs. The economic and financial crisis that began in 2008 only worsened the situation. This book identifies universal challenges facing local government finance, as well as those more regional and country specific. Some of the most common are inadequate sources of revenue, unpredictable transfers and grants, excessive higher-level budget controls, and unfunded mandates. In addition to analyzing these challenges and opportunities, the report proposes recommendations to strengthen the fiscal role and performance of local governments around the world.
Dramatic political, socio-economic, and cultural transformation of Russia in recent decades are often compared to the reforms of Peter the Great. The ongoing reform of education, which is part of the changer, attracts international attention. There have been voices within the Czech: pedagogical public, growing in intensity in the past few years, pointing out the lack of information on the development of education in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, on the transformation of the educational system, and on the problems solved by politicians, experts, as well as school practice in the multi-ethnic and multi-national state. These problems may be of interest not only to the witnesses of the era of Soviet pedagogy and intensive work and personal contacts with its representatives, but also to the younger generation of teachers and researchers. The aim of the publication is to draw attention to education in the Russian Federation, providing the Czech educational community, professionals, and the general public with up-to-date information, as well as documenting, from a critical-analytical perspective, the development, current situation, and trends in Russian schooling.