A modern democratic society cannot develop without the integrated functioning of socio-political institutions, one of which is regional government. This is a kind of conductor, a mechanism to ensure the needs of the population, which operates taking into account the specifics of economic and social indicators of a particular subject of the Russian Federation.
Field management
For the normal life of a particular territory, coherence of the management system is of great importance. Each subject of the Russian Federation is endowed with the necessary powers in various areas of public life - economic, legal, financial, social. All issues related to the livelihood of citizens living in the territory of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation are decided by the municipal authorities. The managerial link is responsible to the population and central authorities for the welfare of the region, territory, republic.
Regional management is not only local government representatives, but also a local government system. We are talking about the self-organization of citizens taking part in solving the problems of the population. Local self-government is a structure closely connected with state bodies, to which separate powers are delegated to carry out everyday tasks.
What is a region?
A clear and unambiguous definition of this term cannot be found in either domestic or foreign literature. Often the concept of “region” is identified with “district”. There is no fundamental difference between these two terms, but in the legal acts and legal literature the term “region” is more common. It is often mentioned by geographers, representatives of the economic and urban areas.
This term implies the presence of several criteria simultaneously:
- geographic (location, area, population);
- industrial (predominant activities, production);
- stages of urbanization (the nature of development of the residential sector, the availability of industrial facilities, developed infrastructure);
- sociological (communicative features, the behavior of persons living in a particular territory).
Due to the presence of several parameters, it is impossible to convey the meaning of the term “region” with one definition. The region is a complex complex structure, which should be considered as a component of the territorial organization of the national economy, resettlement system, and social policy of society.
From a geographical point of view, a region is a plot of territory within the administrative borders of one state, which is characterized by the presence of an existing system of regional government bodies.
Municipal Management
In a broad sense, regional management is the administrative policy of each subject of the Russian Federation. This definition conceals the possibility of regulating the behavior of managed objects of state and non-state ownership, commercial organizations, officials by using various economic, administrative, legal and ideological tools.
The regional management system achieves its goals by applying methods of incentive, prohibition, coercion, and encouragement. The primary task of municipal management is to create modern conditions, security, livelihoods, integrity and orderliness of the economic and social system. Their implementation should be coordinated at all levels of regional governance, and also be consistent with universal values, contribute to improving the quality of life, guarantee the protection of the rights and interests of citizens. Successful management of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation involves ensuring democracy, social justice and the achievements of industrial and technological progress.
As practice shows, stability in the work of the regional management system is an important, but not paramount and not the only condition. First of all, it is important to adapt the management mechanism to any modifications of the system, the dynamics of the region and the needs of the population. In addition, an effective model of municipal management requires the creation of a high-quality material base and human resources.
The challenges facing the municipal government
Speaking about the regional management system, they often mean the form of management, which is a set of principles, methods and means of influencing the economic activity of a subject of the Russian Federation. In modern domestic practice, municipal management is a socio-economic process of development of market relations. The order of transition from the planning and administrative model of leadership to regional management should consist of several elements:
- solving social problems and ensuring conditions for a decent standard of living of the population - this should become the main guideline in the activities of municipal authorities;
- attitude to human life as the highest social value;
- the formation of the organizational and economic space for self-realization and achievement by business entities of planned production goals;
- expansion of the investment policy of the region, territory, republic;
- increasing demand and supply in the market through the study of domestic and inter-regional consumer requests;
- improving local marketing in order to implement projects of a region of strategic importance;
- monitoring a statistical information base for regular analysis of socio-economic, political, environmental indicators in the territory of the subject;
- an objective assessment of the final results and the work done, depending on the level of economic indicators of the region (budget financing, unemployment, rationality of income redistribution, environmental criteria, demographic situation, etc.).
Management in the regions as a scientific discipline
Regional and territorial administration can also be considered as an academic discipline or a scientific branch. Theoretical aspects of the socio-economic processes of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation underlie municipal management as a system of scientific knowledge that establishes the principles, methods, mechanisms and tools of the managerial process.
So far, the scientific basis of regional public administration has not been fully formed. The introduction of the municipal management model of foreign countries is impractical because it does not correspond to the specifics of the administrative-territorial organization of Russia with its variety of climatic zones, nationalities, historical features, religious beliefs, etc. At the same time, the prospect of using the experience of leading European powers can serve a model in the analysis of their own management practices in the field. In addition, the inclusion of certain elements of foreign practice into the system of regional administration of the Russian Federation may become a more effective solution.
Municipal management is regulated by the Federal Law and regulatory legal acts of higher executive bodies. Management should be carried out taking into account the development of a market system of the economy and flexible regulation of social processes in the region. That is why regional management as a scientific direction is used to search and develop appropriate mechanisms, methods and tools that can ensure the achievement of the planned development indicators of the subject of the Russian Federation.
Management Goals
Regional management is a complex hierarchical system that depends on market principles of economic regulation in the region, republic, and territory. In the transition to a model of trade relations, vertical (subordinate) ties rapidly collapse, giving way to a model of horizontal (coordination) and interregional ties.
The consequence of the spread of market relations in the regional administration apparatus of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is changing functional relationships, which subsequently leads to organ dysfunction, staff reduction, and changes in organizational and hierarchical structures. Moreover, the importance of indirect methods of interaction with higher entities and objects is complicated by their economic relations and property relations. All this is an objective basis for the formation and development of municipal management, which, in addition to the tasks of the planning and directive system, sets the following goals:
- expansion of conditions for improving the demographic indicators of the region, improving the level and quality of life;
- socio-economic modernization, analysis, programming and forecasting of economic development at any level of regional management;
- redistribution of financial resources, creation of conditions for strengthening the economic base of the subject of the Russian Federation and its municipalities;
- pursuing a new environmental policy in the region, involving environmental protection;
- implementation of investment and scientific and technical projects;
- improving the model of market infrastructure.
Classification of objects of local authority
There is a whole classification of this category. Management objects are divided according to the following criteria:
- in the form of ownership and affiliation of the object of regional management: federal property, property of the municipality and the subject of the Russian Federation;
- by the nature of the products manufactured by the business entity and the final consumer: the sale of manufactured goods is carried out within the region, the products are manufactured specifically for export or its inter-regional consumption is assumed;
- according to the degree of influence of the business entity (political, economic, legal, social, cultural, environmental processes);
- if possible, apply conditions for the life of the population and meet the needs of the population outside the production sphere (objects of health care, education, culture, social protection, etc.).
If we analyze the above classification of objects of municipal management, we can conclude that in this category you can include all the enterprises in the region that conduct business. At the same time, from the point of view of federal legislation, the acts of which govern regional authorities, the direct objects of management are various organizations, enterprises, and infrastructure links that are the property of constituent entities of the Russian Federation. They are designed to reproduce the living conditions of the population of the region outside the production sphere. Municipal management acts directly on these objects, and is indirectly affected by business entities.
Modern model of municipal management
Each region has its own legislative body - the local parliament, which issues normative legal acts that extend their effect throughout the territory of the subject of the Russian Federation. Laws on regional public administration allow local managers to adopt their own constitutions and elect presidents. At the same time, federal power in the regions is limited, since it is subordinate in the system of centralized executive power, which is fixed at the constitutional level.
In all constituent entities of the Russian Federation, a system of dual regional governance is in place. Central to this structure are federal bodies. On the territory of the region, state structures deal with national issues, adopt regulatory acts that apply to the territory of the specified subject of the Russian Federation, and manage subordinate bodies. Thus, federal bodies carry out local administration on issues referred by the Constitution to their competence.
Municipal management has a number of powers that allow it to create separate departments, services, organizations. At the same time, state bodies are limited not only by strictly established competence, but also by specific territory.
About local government
In each administrative-territorial district, local government bodies conduct their work, which are guided by the relevant laws on the self-organization of the population. Moreover, each region has its own legal acts. At the federal level, only general principles are established.
Partly, local self-government can be called an autonomous mechanism of regional governance. Housing, economic and social issues, health problems and education are within the scope of local government. In addition, the government of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation has the right, at its request, to entrust the performance of certain functions of the self-organization of the population. However, delegating certain powers, the federal authorities are obliged to guarantee the financing necessary for the implementation of the tasks.
As for the executive branch in the regions, local self-government does not choose it. The Governor of the region, territory, republic is appointed by the President of the Russian Federation. In Russian regions, local authorities elect their own government. The governor, appointed by the president of the Russian Federation, independently appoints the head of government, which decides the basic socio-economic issues.
Subordinate regional authorities
In each niche of regional administration, bodies that do not belong to the structure of local administrations and governments, do not report to the governor and the government chosen by him, but interact with representative bodies to carry out their activities, take their place. These structures carry out federal management functions on the territory of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation within the competence vested in them by the Constitution of the Russian Federation to ensure national and national interests. These include regional departments of the customs service (FCS), tax service (FTS), law enforcement agencies, units of the Ministry of Emergencies, Antimonopoly Service (FAS), Rospotrebnadzor and other bodies involved in the field of:
- economic and financial management;
- property relations;
- foreign economic relations;
- industry;
- agro-industrial complex;
- housing and communal services management;
- health care;
- education;
- culture;
- social protection of the population, etc.
Moreover, each state body in the region is a whole system with its own subordinate structure. For example, the highest positions in the structure of the regional education department are held by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and regional, provincial and republican departments are subordinate to it. Those, in turn, are subordinate to city education departments in urban districts, district committees, etc. Also, these budget organizations are engaged in conducting the state youth policy in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The issue of regional waste management deserves special attention. Today in Russia at all levels of government there is no single concept for resolving issues related to waste recycling. The main reason for the lack of coordination in this matter is the imperfection of the legislative framework. In addition, waste management at the level of constituent entities of the Russian Federation is associated with the level of economic activity in the region, a change in the demographic situation, the standard of living of the population, and the general structure of production and consumption.
Separation of powers
One of the most difficult issues that one has to face in managerial activities is related to observing the boundaries of competence of federal regional managers and local self-government. In most regions, municipalities seek to expand their powers and seize federal competence. Often, state administrative bodies intervene in the sphere of self-organization of the population.
Disagreements in the division of managerial powers cause difficulties in coordinating the activities of both municipalities and regional administrations. Often the problem is aggravated by the lack of clear instructions in the process of exercising joint powers. , . . , – . ( ). , (, , -, ).
Bilateral agreements on the distribution of competence are concluded between the Government of the Russian Federation and the executive authorities of the regions. Within the framework of the administrative-federal structure and autonomy of local self-government, the priority areas should be the development of a system of measures that would provide motivation for management bodies at all levels of regional government of Russia. In this matter, it is important to take into account the area of the region and the rate of growth of economic potential.
Financial assistance provided from the federal budgets should become an instrument of the subjects' policy. The purpose of such assistance is to stimulate the economic development of disadvantaged areas, but at the same time it is important to ensure the development dynamics of more successful regions in all respects at rates not lower than the previous ones.