The performance of the authoritiesin the field of public policy: an attemptof sociological assessement

About the authors:

Gulnara F. Romashkina, Dr. Sci. (Soc.), Professor, Department of Economic Security, System Analysis and Control, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia, g.f.romashkina@utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7764-5566, Scopus Author ID: 16437113600, WoS ResearcherID: O-7221-2017

Irina F. Pecherkina, Cand. Sci (Soc.), Associate Professor, Department of Management and Business, University of Tyumen; i.f.pecherkina@utmn.ru; ORCID: 0000-0003-4978-0311

Abstract:

The present article focuses on the analysis of the relationship between the level and nature of civil society development, public policy and the characteristics of transition to innovative development in Russian conditions. The current assessment is based on a small target sample (302 experts – public policy agents: regional authorities, the employees of state and local government agencies, representatives of business sector and the representatives of non-profit organizations (NPOs). The article highlights the specifics of the post-Soviet social system types: the stratification frame is formed by state authorities, covering the bulk of material, labor and information resources. As a result, the authors of the study conclude that the authority is satisfied with the actual conditions and opportunities for the development of civil society, while members of other communities are rather unhappy about the situation. On the one hand, the elite consider it necessary to apply non-economic control instead of the economic one, on the other hand — democratic institutions are not necessary for either authorities or business. In fact, the social basis of actual mechanisms of public administration is not formed in society, while the economic system has almost completed its formation as an etacratic one providing the merge of economic and political elites practically excluding social and economic mechanisms and social mobility.

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