The article analyzes issues related to the impact of various reforms in the sphere of Russian self-government on the development of Russian cities, especially in the context of new territorial administration systems. As the initial premises of such reforms, we consider, first of all, the constitutional innovations of 2020, which in one way or another affected the economic and legal foundations of Russian local self-government, in particular, through the approval of a single institution of “public power” in the country. The concept of “public authority” is intended to embody the unity and interaction of state and municipal administration in solving the problems of socio-economic development of territories. Further, in the context of the development of cities and their management systems, the tasks of preparing new “Foundations...” of state policy in the field of local self-government are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the need to strengthen the role of municipal management structures in supporting small business forms. The importance of specifying the place and role of various types of municipalities in the practice of strategic planning is shown.
The article aims to summarize some interim results of the implementation of the adopted in 2015 Strategy for the development of Russian small and medium-sized businesses until 2030, as well as to determine how this strategic planning document meets new conditions, which have appeared in the Russian economy, and in particular in the small and medium-sized business sector by 2020. The authors focus on both stronger and less successful provisions of the Strategy for the development of Russian SMEs, and also consider it necessary to determine how the Strategy mentioned above “fits” into the general outline of strategic planning documents, defined by the 172nd Federal Law on strategic planning. The article analyzes the difficulties, which currently accompany the implementation of the Strategy for the development of Russian SMEs and contains assumptions about the possibility of technical implementation of target indicators for the development of the SME sector in the Russian economy, fixed in the Strategy for the development of SMEs until 2030. The attention is drawn to the role of the national project “Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative”, which can be considered as a reference point and action plan for the initial period of the implementation of the Strategy for SMEs development until 2030. The article focuses on the discussion of whether the Strategy for the development of SMEs until 2030 can be considered a real “working” document of public administration, or whether this vector of socio-economic policy of the state currently needs a new strategic concept, a new goal-setting methodology, a more detailed system of institutions and tools, and the disclosure of the spatial “cross-section” of public policy devoted to the SME sector, taking into account the strengthening of the role of regional and municipal management.
Serious problems which occurred in setting the strategic planning system and the difficulties in the implementation of national projects and in the achievement of national goals, make us think how effective the functioning of the “vertical” of public power in the Russian Federation is, and in particular, how closely its state and municipal components interact. In this context a lot of scientific papers appeared which carried the idea that due to a number of reasons, both of legal and economic nature, there is still no sufficient close interaction of state and municipal administrative bodies. The paper shows that the absence of such clear interaction leads to inadequate efficiency in the use of target and project methods of solving key problems, appearing in the regions of the country and in particular, municipalities. The article analyses the reasons for such a situation, which are connected with the gaps in legislative regulation, especially in part, which is connected with the positioning of local public self-government in the “vertical of executive power”, specifying their powers, their economic basis, as well as the regulation frames and control by government authorities. The purpose of the article is to identify the new principles and mechanisms of interaction of the state and local public self-government, which at present must be written into fundamental laws of this direction of government policy. The novelty of this task is determined by the fact that almost for the first time the range of issues is analyzed on a “crossing” of such novelties as amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, transfer to the system of strategic planning and an increased emphasis on the strengthening of civil society foundations in local self-government.
The Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period until 2025, adopted in 2019, defines one of its main goals as “ensuring sustainable and balanced spatial development of the Russian Federation”. The Strategy does not specify what kind of balance is meant in this very case. However, it’s quite obvious that regardless of how this “balance” is interpreted, its essential feature or criterion should be considered as sufficient uniformity in the development of the country’s living space, the maintenance of a stable ratio of its large, medium and small cities, as well as all other settlements. For such a geographically huge country, this task has not only a significant economic and social meaning, but also fully meets the requirements of the national and economic security of the state. The question of the role of cities in the development of the optimal spatial structure of the Russian economy in modern conditions is “full” of a large number of specific aspects, including the ratio of urban and rural population, the structure of urban settlements, the nature of the development of agglomeration processes, etc. Agglomerations increasingly become a leading trend in the formation of the urban environment, i.e. an important, but not a problem-free result of urbanization. The Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period until 2025 does not give a complete picture of the desired direction of urban development in the country. The document pays attention to agglomeration processes, but this does not cover the range of problems of positioning the entire set of urban settlements in the economy and social sphere of the Russian Federation and its federal entities.
Despite many unfavourable conditions, in October 2021 it became possible to hold the next scheduled the 19th Strategic Planning Leaders Forum in Saint Petersburg in person and in full scale. In 2021, the key topic of the forum was “Strategic Planning Leaders Forum of the Regions and Cities of Russia: Reality 2020 and Agenda for the Next Decade”. Although the theory, methodology and practice of strategic planning remain the key object of discussions at the forum invariably (for almost 20 years), the approaches for the analysis of this topic at the forum do not remain unchanged. Strictly speaking, two stages can be distinguished here: before the adoption of Federal Law No. 172 on strategic planning (2014) and the entire subsequent period. At the first stage, the provisions which we would like to see in the law on strategic planning were mainly discussed. At the second stage, issues of implementation of this law, ways to ensure the relationship of strategic planning documents and the capacity of its “power vertical” moved into the spotlight. However, it was impossible not to notice that already at the 2019 forum, many key issues of methodology and practice of strategic planning began to be postponed. This shift was even more typical for the full-time part of the 2021 forum. The discussion mainly focused on issues of a private nature, i.e. issues that are no less important, but still clearly do not take into account the fullness of the problems of strategic planning practice in the conditions of growing uncertainty, especially in the context of the “agenda” of the coming decade. Frankly speaking, in many positions this “agenda” was not particularly clarified at the forum, which is naturally related to the specifics of the social and economic situation in the country at the turn of 2020-2021. One of the issues which fully integrated the analysis of the existing situation with a view of its further prospects was Russian local self-government.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.