Public participation is a way for stakeholders of public institutions to participate in the public decision-making process, planning, organizing, and financing activities to achieve common public goals. The research underlying this paper examines the ability of EU states to support e-participation in various ways and activities. The aim of the research is to identify the particularities of EU countries regarding e-participation and to analyze comparatively the changes that took place in the administrations of European states in the period 2010-2018. For this, EViews was applied with the ARDL model (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) to analyze both the variables and the dynamics of the relations between them in the considered period. The data on which the research was conducted were selected from the Eurostat portal, the World Bank, and the United Nations E-Government Database. The results show that during the period analyzed, in most European countries platforms and programs dedicated to cooperation and consultation between the administration, citizens, and economic agents were developed. These changes have led to a reduction in the costs of operating the administrative apparatus and a considerable decrease in administrative bureaucracy. The originality of the research lies in using the ARDL analysis model on e-participation data series in most European countries when ICT (information and communication technology) had a major impact on accelerating the cooperation of administrations with their stakeholders. Good e-participation practices identified in European countries show that efforts to integrate information and communication technologies into state administrations and their relations with citizens are needed and generate major economic and social benefits. States can take models from each other and adapt good practices to their specific realities. Research has highlighted the real need to accelerate this process in Europe, for effective communication between state administrations and between them and their stakeholders.

This study aims to extend the concept of organizational identity, the soul of organizational culture, and its five characterizing attributes, namely, purpose, philosophy, priorities, processes, and projections, to the regulatory space. It has been done through a thematic review of previous articles. Although a few academic articles in the public policy arena have dealt with one or two of these attributes, there is a lack of a holistic evaluation of the regulatory framework covering all these five attributes of regulatory identity. After building an understanding of how these elements have evolved in public policy and regulation domains, we have hypothesized that processes and projections of the regulatory framework need to be aligned with the core regulatory identity (constituted by purpose, philosophy, and priorities) for achieving strategic outcomes. On the other hand, a change in the long-term strategy should trigger a reassessment of organizational priorities followed by the realignment of the core regulatory culture to guide decision-making and organizational actions. Finally, since the regulatory processes or practices, both internal and external, are the actions that keep the regulatory identity alive, therefore, they should be aligned with the core identity and culture of the regulatory framework.

The subject of discussion is the phenomenological typology of practically implemented municipal management strategies, as well as the influence of external factors on the preference of a certain type of strategy. The research hypothesis assumes that the choice and preference of a certain management strategy depends on external non-political factors. Using a qualitative methodology (direct observation and in-deep interviews) the materials of several hundred field studies of the practice of municipal government in provincial local communities in 2006-2021 were summarized. We have previously described four extreme cases of management strategies: (1) real local self-government; (2) "landlord" management; (3) "Soviet-type” governance; (4) "politicized" governance. The used management strategies remain unchanged in municipalities for a long time. The preference for a certain strategy is mainly due to several factors. Those are (1) spatial isolation of the local society, (2) the duration of community’s live, (3) possibilities for the population to use local natural resources and ownerless property, (4) the ability to resources’ control by representatives of local authorities, (5) dependence of the municipality on external state financial and economic support. The revealed non-political factors have predictive value for the governmental administration from the point of view of the local level of public authority.

The article examines the impact of raising the retirement age in Russia on the economic activity of older workers in 2019, the starting year of the transition period for raising the retirement age, which preceded the COVID-19 pandemic. The probabilities of employment, unemployment and inactivity of persons of pre-retirement age was estimated using a multinomial logit analysis. Multinomial logit analysis was based on microdata from the Rosstat Labor Force Survey for 2017-2019. The models included the socio-demographic characteristics of the population of the several age groups. The obtained estimates show a small, but numerically noticeable increase in the probability of employment and a decrease in the chances of leaving the labor force for persons of pre-retirement age in 2019 compared to 2017 and 2018. These results were supplemented by an analysis of microdata on the registered unemployed of the Tyumen region for 2019, provided to the authors by the Department of Labor and Employment of the Tyumen Region. The results of the study show that higher education is the most important factor in the competitiveness in the labor market for persons of pre-retirement age. Despite all the instruments of the state regulation implemented in 2019 which tend to support the employment in the older age groups, individual characteristics of pre-retirees made greater impact on their competitiveness on the labor market. Thus, implications for the policy could be to focus efforts on supporting professional education and training for adults.

The research focuses on the social relations in the field of digital public administration, namely possibilities of applying in public administration of blockchain. The main purpose of this research is to identify streams of regulatory reform of public administration in order to create legal conditions for the blockchain technology application by State authorities. The study was based on the foreign and Russian authors’ researches in the field of public administration, as well as strategic legal acts. The main obstacle to introduce blockchain in public administration is the contradiction between vertical structure of administration and the decentralized nature of blockchain. The article describes the similarities between blockchain and new public management, defines the types of public functions in which blockchain can be most effective. The conclusions made in the literature regarding the preference for closed blockchains by the State, which allow to maintain control over the transactions carried out, are projected by the method of analogy to the field of legal regulation of public administration. The expansion of the results obtained in the public administration science into the legal sphere has revealed specific problems that require updated legal regulation in connection with blockchain within the framework of the public administration laws. Integrated legal regulation will affect both the composition and procedure of public functions and the institutional framework of public administration. Resolving disputes needs special attention. The task is complicated by the absence of systemic regulation concerning public administration process in Russia. As a result of the research, key directions of regulatory reform in the public administration field, allowing the use of blockchain technology, proposals for improvement of legislation have been identified. Some recommendations can be used in the course of regulatory correction within the framework of the national project «Digital Economy.»

The paper focuses on international experience of an energy policy tool application: cross-subsidy in electric power industry between the industry and households, as well as approaches to its reduction. Cross subsidization is introduced as a social support measure, while it bears a number of negative consequences, including the allocation of the largest share of subsidy to the wealthy households, as well as in creased costs for business that are reflected in the prime cost of goods and services. The study includes a research literature review, analysis of ultimate power tariffs and energy policy measures in different countries, as well as content analysis of related media publications. The research indicates that tariffs for industrial consumers in the majority of countries are two to three times lower than for households. The review of energy policy tools has proved that developed countries seem to be more inclined to apply market mechanisms, while for the developing economies with a more significant level of state intervention it is typical to artifi cially restrain the household tariff growth. The research findings confirm the hypothesis: tariff policy measures are not enough for effi cient resolution of cross-subsidy issues in electric power industry. A wider range of integrated social and economic policy tools from related areas of public administration have to be applied.

The study is devoted to cross-border projects of PPP that is based on the distribution of risks and pooling the resources of a private partner and a public partner (two or more States), in order to build and operate an object or a set of technologically (functionally) related infrastructure objects located on the border of these States. The development of cross-border infrastructure plays a key role in accelerating ties between states. It is carried out both within the framework of cross-border cooperation and in the framework of large-scale international initiatives (One belt – one way). PPP has become a popular mechanism for creating cross-border infrastructure. Nevertheless, this phenomenon has not yet received the attention it truly deserves, especially the balance of limitations and capabilities of management entities under PPP in relation to cross-border infrastructure, as well as the particularity of the risk management of a private partner and public partners (two or more States). The article highlights the specific features of cross-border PPP projects that actually and legally affect the interests and state borders of several States. Problems of management, financing and legal support of cross-border PPP projects have been identified. A set of measures aimed at minimizing these problems and enhancing the attraction of private and public investment in cross-border PPPs has been proposed. For this, several cross-border PPP projects were examined (Russia-China, France-Spain, Malaysia-Singapore, etc.) in detail: their object and subject composition, models, financing structure, risk allocation, essential terms of agreements, participation of international banks in their financing, etc. The article presents a comparative analysis of cross-border PPP projects and other PPP projects implemented based on interstate cooperation, demonstrates the strength of cross-border PPP projects. Findings can be useful both in defining the area for development of the economic and investment policy of public administration regarding the creation and operation of cross-border PPP facilities, as well as in the further theoretical investigation of public administration problems in this field.

Over the past decade, there has been an increased use of results-based management in Vietnam and other countries, but little empirical research exists on resultsbased planning (RBP). This research empirically examines the impact of four organizational factors on the outcomes of RBP. Data were based on 177 respondents from the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development - one of the pioneering government agencies adopting RBP in Vietnam. This study finds that employee commitment and RBP-related training have a direct, positive, and strong effect on the outcomes of RBP, and leadership support and involvement, donor support indirectly affect RBP outcomes via employee commitment. This study contributes to the literature by offering empirical evidence of the role of organizational factors in implementing reforms such as RBP in the context of a developing country. Some recommendations for furthering such reforms are also made.

The reform of control and supervision activities, as part of the Administrative Reform in the Russian Federation, is designed to provide a reasonable balance between state interest as a guarantor of compliance with established standards and requirements; the interests of business in reducing the number of control and supervision measures; and the constitutional right of citizens to protect their life, health, property and other legal rights and interests. Currently, there is a need to reduce the number of requirements of regulatory legal acts for the implementation of business and business activities by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs (“regulatory guillotine”). The solution of this problem in future may lead to creation of a market for services in the field of control. It might also encourage a transfer of some of the functions and powers of control from state control and oversight bodies to nongovernmental organizations. This determines the need to summarize the experience of public-private partnership in control, the existing types of non-state control, and developed approaches to the organization of the protection of life, health, property of citizens while reducing the role of the state in control and supervision activities. It seems appropriate to develop measures to stimulate the use of publicprivate partnerships in priority (risky) segments of control. The article summarizes the experience of implementing public-private partnerships in monitoring compliance with regulatory requirements in the Eurasian Economic Union countries and in the Russian Federation. An algorithm of public-private partnership in the field of control is proposed. The author carried out an expert analysis of the creation and development of sanitary and epidemiological safety monitoring services provided by non-governmental organizations. The analysis reveals the reasons for the formation of the market for control services, the forms and types of control with regard to the risk-based approach. The author proposes a model of interaction between the state body for control (supervision) and non-governmental organizations providing services in the field of control over sanitary and epidemiological safety of the population. The article offers recommendations on building a model of public-private partnership in the field of monitoring sanitary and epidemiological safety, taking into account the positions of citizens and the requirements of art. 14 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation «on the right of citizens to protect their health».

The paper presents the results of analyzing objective and subjective indices of environmental protection competence of Sverdlovsk Region officials. The empiric basis of the article was statistical data provided by the Office of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service in the Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Regions specially for this purpose, as well as semiformalized expert interviews with state and municipal officials, carried out in five municipal formations of the Sverdlovsk Region. From analyzing the empiric data, the authors concluded that formal requirements regarding qualification of municipal officials are met, but it cannot ensure efficiency of solving environmental problems on the municipal level. Thus, there is a pronounced deficit of environmental protection competencies. Rich expertise enables municipal officials to perform their duties, but it cannot solve the problem of the insufficient knowledge of environmental protection. Municipal officials overestimate their environmental protection competence and expertise. Though the majority of municipal officials lack the specialized environmental protection education, as well as complete regular further education courses on this subject, specialists from the municipal formation administration consider their qualification high enough and professional experience successful. This means that no strict requirements are set for the competence of municipal authorities, while further education seems to be a formal process. It was shown that the environmental protection issue is not a top-priority for the local administration; administration representatives are barely motivated to be involved in environmental protection, while different officials have different levels of the appropriate competence, depending on their positions. Inevitably, environmental protection capabilities of municipal executive authorities decrease gradually. To improve the environmental protection competence of municipal authorities, educational organizations should focus on designing the innovative and substantial courses, further education, and professional courses, dedicated to environmental protection.