The article defines ways of interaction between the state and civil society institutions in accordance with the basic principles of interaction between the state and society. There are presented and characterized examples of conditionally active interaction of the state with the institutes of civil society in Russia. These examples are common throughout the State, their role in the process of informing society about the activities of the state is significant. However, the organization of feedback should be worked out in a qualitative way, so that the acts of interaction have a real, rather than a formal character.
Conditionally active way of interaction is de-fined as the way where the subject of
interaction initiates an active impact with the reaction of another subject. At the same
time, the initiative of interaction does not apply to the implementation of the
responsibilities of the subject (legislatively established). On the other hand, conditionally
passive way of interaction is considered as a method by which a subject of interaction
resorts to the implementation of a legally established procedure for actions.
Thus, to classify the way of interaction, it is necessary to define its nature [
2012, the situation has changed dramatically, as experts note - the era of
unprecedented attention to the IT industry from the state began [
The starting point of the study is the position of the report of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (hereinafter - the OECD), according to
which “Digital economy is an economy in which value added is created using digital
(information) technologies. It functions due to the connection and dependence of
online economy and offline economy. At the same time, its development is
determined by “smart data” [
Below we have described mechanisms of the conditionally active ways of StateSociety interactions. Conditionally passive modes of interaction do not need to be described in details. They are the realization of the responsibilities of state and municipal bodies within their competence.
Organization and attraction of public representatives to the work of public Councils, commissions, working groups under the executive management bodies. Such organizations are created and abolished by normative legal acts of the executive bodies of the administration. They operate on an on-going basis and they are consultative and advisory bodies that carry out their activities on a voluntary basis.
The main principles of public Councils and other similar organizations activities are: legality, publicity, professionalism and voluntariness. The executive body ensures the organization of the activity of the public Council, coordinates the interaction with it, determines those who are responsible for the interaction. The role of consultative and advisory bodies includes assistance to the executive body in elaboration and preparation of proposals for legislative and regulatory framework, development of executive authority and society interactions and the improvement of the law enforcement practice in executive body activities.
The composition of tasks varies depending on the results of work, as well as on the State socio-economic situation. The organization of consultative and advisory bodies work is regulated by a provision regulating the purposes and tasks of the body, the authorities, the procedure for the formation, the rights and duties of the body members. The list of public Councils operating under executive management bodies is posted on the official website of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation (https://oprf.ru/1449/2133/1536/1857/) and on the web-site of the Open Government (opendata.open.gov.ru). The full list of commissions and Councils under the President of the Russian Federation is available on the official website of the President of the Russian Federation (http://kremlin.ru/structure/commissions, http://kremlin.ru/structure/). Information about the activities of each individual public Council, commission, working group is posted on the website of that body of executive power, which initiated its creation and ensures its functioning.
The organization and the holdind of public discussions on political and socioeconomic development issues. Public discussions are held in order to inform the public and local authorities about the drafts of state decisions, determine public reaction and identify public opinion on the subject of discussion, draft proposals and recommendations on the discussion subject. The most common practice of this method of interaction is public discussions of draft laws (Police law (2010), Education Law (2010-2011, 2015, 2019), Contract system law (2012-2013, 2015, 2018)). It is possible to hold several discussions at various stages of drafting and drafting the bill. It is possible to hold discussions at various venues: on the websites, on the basis of public associations, expert Councils and commissions, in the framework of scientific and practical events.
Regardless of the form, it is unified that comments and suggestions are in substance of the discussion. This information is subject to be publicly disclosed, commented by experts, discussed by the organizers of the discussion, is included in a special analytical report. The authorized body duty is to in-form the public about the subject of the discussion, to provide information on the content of the document submitted for discussion, details about the time, place, procedure for registration and participation in the event. Public discussion can be conducted not only in the way of accumulating comments and suggestions on the authorized body official website or a separately created website, but also by submitting citizens written appeals.
All the substantive comments and proposals obtained through the public discussion
are fixed in the final document, subjected to open placement, and are considered
mandatory by the authorized body. The decision taken by the authorized body on the
consideration results is also posted in open sources, for example in a report form.
Such sources are traditionally printed publications, Internet reception or the site of the
exact body or the sites of public associations involved in the organization [
Accordingly, the bodies that drafted the bill and participated in its development place the text of the draft law, an explanatory note and economical-financial justification for it on the Internet. The in-formation on the procedure for sending comments and proposals on the draft law to the relevant web-site with an indication of the time during which its public discussion will be conducted is also to be made available. Citizens who participate in the public discussion have the opportunity to review the comments and proposals received on the draft law from the website. After 90 days from the day of the bill public discussion, the President of the Russian Federation is given a report on the results of the discussion.
Organization of Thematic dialogue with the public. This type of interaction is currently actively developing, it has traditional forms, for example, a hotline or helpline, as well as new ones, particularly the "Direct Line" with the President of Russia or the BRICS Civil Forum. The purpose of this interaction method is to receive a feedback from the public on the most pressing issues in a fairly short period of time (if it is a temporary service) or to carry out the interaction in a constant mode. It results in a sort of a "cut" of the public interest definition and the top point of problem issues. The most frequently used forms (hot line, helpline) now are an effective form of collecting and processing information from subscribers (users). A telephone line (mostly 24/7 and free in Russia) or an e-mails can be arranged. This service could provide for the mandatory establishment of applicant’s personal data, as well as mandatory (recommended) form of treatment. Appeals can be moderated, and as a result, by the law established cases, actions are taken to establish the facts, information about which was contained in the appeal. Examples of such ser-vices are: a hotline on citizens complaints on alleged corruption in the Russian Federation Public Chamber, hotline of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the hotline of the President of the Russian Federation, the FAS Russia hotline on raising prices issues, a hot line on the State final attestation issues.
A different mechanism operates when organizing and conducting a "Direct Line" with the President of Russia (http://zadat-vopros-putinu.ru/). Since 2001, this annual event, where in the real-time Russian President answers questions and reports from citizens. The event is broadcasted on multiple TV channels, radio stations and online in the Internet. If the functioning of the "hot line" or the helpline ser-vices involves an applicant-operator communication, then in this case the dialogue continues for several hours, during which the President of Russia answers a number of questions and reports. The selection of applications to be announced is carried out by a single focal point for treatment of declarations. The se-lection criterion is the most interesting and relevant reports and requests.
Any person, being present in the studio can make an appeal, it can be sent by phone, transmitted as a video, like SMS or MMS, direct inclusions from Russian cities are also envisaged. Preliminary appeals are accumulated and registered by the focal point for treatment of declarations within a week preceding the event. The practice of the past years shows that the number of applications received both during the event and those that been registered before it significantly exceeds the possibilities of the event schedule. It, for its part, shows the high demand on this form of interaction of the public. Civil forums as a way of State-Society interaction also have an extensive practice in Russia. The historical prototype of a civil forum is city assemblies. It is wrong to assume that the civil forum is only a platform for expressing one's own opinion and conducting discussions on a number of socially significant issues and problems. The Civil Forum should be considered as a way of developing and choosing a common position in an open public dialogue.
Carrying out series of discussions leads to a dialogue far beyond the opinion exchange, a public opinion, related to significant values and reflecting a balanced and stable position of a group of people, a scientific school, any different community, arises. The civil forum is aimed to develop specific administrative decisions. For that purpose, business games technologies, brainstorming, evaluating alternatives, mental experiment, measuring public mood and priorities (including through a multilevel survey) are applied, all within the framework of a guided discussion. Examples of the civil society are: the Civil Forum of the Trans-Baikal Territory (held annually since 2002), the Civil Forum BRICS (first held in 2015). Despite the general approach of interventions, each of them has its own characteristics.
The Civil Forum of the Trans-Baikal Territory is organized by the Government of the Transbaikal Region, the Legislative Assembly of the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Public Chamber of the Trans-Baikal Territory. The forum is held on thematic venues, which are organized in various places of the administrative center of the region in Chita. On the forum basis, permanent working groups are formed. The venues are different in their scale, target audience and events forms, but each of them provides a free participation and an opportunity for a direct contact with the organizers. This forum is aimed not only at accumulating positions on socially significant issues, but also at forming business contacts to enhance an investment attractiveness of the region and the inflow of investment into it.
The BRICS Civil Forum is a platform for developing solutions at the national and world levels. Public participation in the event is viewed as a means to adequately broadcast decisions and commitments undertaken by the leaders of the BRICS Summit and the results of the BRICS activities to the world community. In 2020, the forum was established with the support of the official Russian Presidency of the BRICS and is positioned as a permanent format (from 2020 onwards) for the club's activities. The purpose of this forum is to organize a new point of interaction between such political clubs as Business 20, Labor 20, Youth 20, Civil 20, Think 20 and thus form an independent superstructure for such a political club as the G20. 3
Participation in civil society institutions creation and implementation. Apart from organizing thematic platforms that ensure the State-Society dialogue, the state also participates in the civil society institutions formation. These are independent official structures, which can be granted the right to exercise certain public authorities. Such institutions have an explicit social orientation and usually operate on a national scale, have a branched structure that is built in an analogy with the administrative vertical, linking the parent organization and its regional centers. Examples of such institutions are the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, the Institute of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, the Institute of the Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child of the Russian Federation, the Institute of the Commissioner for the Rights of Entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation, plenipotentiary representatives of the President of the Russian Federation in federal districts, the Russian tripartite commission for regulating social and labor relations.
The Russian Federation Public Chamber (https://www.oprf.ru/) carries out interaction of citizens with state authorities and local self-government in order to take into account the needs and interests of citizens, to protect their rights and freedoms in the formation and implementation of a public policy, and to implement Public control over the activities of government bodies. The Chamber is elected every three years, and formed from forty citizens of the Russian Federation, approved by the President of the Russian Federation, eighty-five representatives of the public chambers of the Russian regions and forty-three representatives of all-Russian public associations and other non-profit organizations.
The activities of the Chamber are replete with large-scale projects involving many people and organizations throughout Russia, for example, the project "Perspective successful civil practices", the forum "Community - Active Citizens Forum", "Public Councils at the federal executive authority ", "Zero reading of bills" , "Ukraine. Monitoring the situation "and others. In its annual report on activities, the Chamber consolidates data on all areas of work, assesses various socio-political solutions and trends, is a valuable source of statistical, analytical and fore-cast data.
The institution of the authorized representative (for human rights, for the rights of the child, for the rights of entrepreneurs) is a public service institution, that means that the post of Commissioner is a public office established to provide guarantees of state protection of rights and freedoms (legitimate interests) of a person and citizen (organization) In accordance with the norms of the Russian legislation, as well as universally recognized principles and norms of international law, international treaties of Russia. The activity of the commissioner does not cancel the activity of authorized persons in this or that area of state bodies of power and administration, nor does it entail a review of their competence and subject matter. It should be pointed out that the institution of the authorized representative continues to function even while the imposition of an emergency or martial law regime.
The institution of the authorized representative is established both at the federal level and at the regional level by the relevant legislative acts. The activity of the Commissioner supplements the existing forms and means of protecting the rights and freedoms (legitimate interests) of a person and citizen (organization), does not and does not entail a re-view of the competence of state authorities and local self-government bodies, their officials, providing protection and restoration of violated rights and freedoms (legitimate interests) of a person and a citizen (organization) [10]. The Commissioner must not only respond to appeals from citizens and organizations within his competence, but also monitor the situation, identifying cases of violation of the rights and freedoms of citizens (organizations), qualifying the actions of other authorized bodies for observing rights and freedoms (legitimate interests).
The authorized representative informs the state bodies and the public about their activities, about the status of affairs in the priority area of their activities in the country, interacts with federal and regional government bodies and with other commissioners and commissions in constituent entities of the Russian Federation, non-governmental human rights organizations, and the media. The interaction of the Commissioner with the state authorities is carried out on the basis of bilateral agreements on cooperation, participation in collective commissions, collective working groups and so on. The most noticeable lever of influence of the authorized representative on public opinion is the annual report on activities, that is brought to the attention of the general public, officials of state and municipal bodies. In addition to the annual report, authorized representatives prepare special reports, which reflect the vision of the situation on selected topical issues.
A striking example of the fact that the institution of an authorized representative is a key link in the system of State-Society interaction is that by identifying and summarizing the practice of the most typical cases of violation of rights, freedoms (legitimate interests) of a person, citizen (organization) based on the results of working with appeals and monitoring the situation, the authorized representative discovers the need to amend the current legislation. Such work contributes to the discovery of corruption facts, abuse of power, facts of inaction and negligence. A significant place in the work of the authorized representative is the work on legal education, legal advice is provided, including to citizens wishing to exercise their constitutional right to apply to international bodies.
The Institute of the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation (http://www.gov.ru/main/page3.html) can be attributed to non-state structures, since the plenipotentiary is an employee of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, which does not belong to the authorities. Plenipotentiary representative, fulfilling the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, helps him to fulfill the head of the state duties.
The Russian tripartite commission for the regulation of social and labor relations (RTС) is an organization of three parties representation: presentative of all-Russian associations of trade un-ions, all-Russian employers' associations, the Government of the Russian Federation. The Commission functions in accordance with the Federal Law of 01.05.1999 No. 92-FZ. Each party defines its representatives to the commission of no more than 30 people. Activities of each party are organized by the party coordinator. In addition, the President of the Russian Federation appoints the Commission Coordinator, who is not a member of the commission, and who does not interfere in the activities and does not participate in the voting.
At the regional level, tripartite commissions can also be formed to regulate social and labor relations, whose activities are carried out in accordance with the laws of the subject of the Russian Federation. The model of their activity actually corresponds to the model of the RTK. At the sectoral level, bilateral commissions are usually formed for collective bargaining, preparation of draft industry (inter-industry) agreements and their conclusions. But there could be commissions on a tripartite basis with the participation of relevant executive authorities. However, in the signing of sectoral agreements, these bodies do not accept participation, their functions include only coordinating the position of the com-mission with the position of the executive body, providing information and advisory support to the sectoral commission activities. Support for non-profit organization activities. Budgetary resources that are distributed through non-profit organizations are also called public finances. Non-commercial organizations provide additional services to citizens, that are not provided by state and municipal institutions, they also have the opportunity to provide benefits to certain groups of citizens in provision of public goods and services [11]. Their outreach on separate target groups contributes to more effective monitoring of the socio-economic situation of the country. In addition, non-profit organizations pro-vide the most significant contribution to the system of public control over the activities of state and municipal bodies. The model of budget allocation among non-profit organizations provides support for projects with proven effectiveness for faster dissemination of best practices and new projects on a competitive basis. This practice is also common in other countries [12]. Non-profit organizations are considered as a tool for solving socio-economic problems.
According to experts’ opinion, the potential of the non-profit sector is currently not being used sufficiently, in addition, the state support for the development infrastructure of the non-profit sector is also inadequate. At the same time, it should be noted that the state mainly subsidizes socially-oriented non-profit organizations (SONPO). There are two main subjects of financing - the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia (contests for co-financing of regional support programs for SONPO) and the Presidential Affairs Office of the Russian Federation (grants). The procedure for contests for subsidizing regional programs is more open than the procedure for granting presidential grants. The Ministry of Economic Development publishes not only the criteria for evaluating bids, but also the applications are published on the portal www.nko.economy.gov.ru, as well as reports on granting subsidies. Every year the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia prepares a report to the Government of the Russian Federation on the results of subsidizing SONPO and regional support programs for SONPO. Information on the criteria for selecting grantees, applications, reports and generalized data on the financing of NPOs The Office of the President of the Russian Federation does not available to the public.
A number of funds have been created on the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation; through these funds socially significant projects are financed in the form of grants. The Fund "Russian World", the Foundation for Support of Public Diplomacy of A.M. Gorchakov. Thus, due to distributed budget funds, support is provided for public and non-profit organizations, professional associations, scientific and educational institutions. This approach ensures the popularization of certain areas of public policy, which is a common practice in the world [13]. Other state bodies at the federal and regional levels are also involved in the process of allocating budgetary funds through NGOs. On a competitive or targeted basis, in the form of grants, state assignments, government agencies and established funds for this purpose support NPOs. Every year, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, the Ministry of Health of Russia, the Ministry of Labor of Russia, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Ministry of Sport of Russia, the Ministry of Culture of Russia provide a support to NPOs at the expense of budgetary funds.
Specialized funds established at the govern-mental level (the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation, the Russian Foundation for Basic Re-search, the Foundation for Advanced Studies, the Industrial Development Fund, the Foundation for Promoting the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere, etc.) also participate in this process. Information on the procedure for allocating budgetary funds has a different degree of openness, in some cases only the final decisions on granting funding (grants of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation) are openly available, and information about the experts involved and selection criteria accompanied by recommendations on training Applications (subsidies of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia).
In order to claim the subsidy from the Minis-try of Economic Development of the Russian Federation for co-financing regional support programs for SONCO, the region must, first of all, have the means to support the SONCO in the regional budget, and second of all, provide information on the results of NPO support, interaction with NPOs , civil society, experts. According to the experts of the All-Russian Civil Forum in 2018, 73 subjects of the Russian Federation were implementing support programs for SONPO. Traditional directions of rendering social services to the population through NPOs are: the development of sports and creative leisure, support for persons with disabilities, care for the elderly, assistance to the poor, work with problem families and hard-to-educate adolescents, social adaptation of children and adults. Among the promising areas of work of NGOs with the population can be called: promoting environmental protection and energy conservation, preserving the historical and cultural heritage, disseminating the ideas of volunteerism and charity, preventing alcoholism and drug addiction, preventing violations.
An independent direction for subsidizing the activities of SONPO is a competition for information, consulting, methodological support of other SONPO. Thus, on a competitive basis, the accumulated experience, transfer of management technologies and best practices are disseminated. The main direction for this subsidy is to conduct educational and public awareness activities to manage the NPOs activities and individual projects, attract volunteers, and resources search for projects implementation and promotion. By distributing budgetary funds through NPOs, the state seeks to diversify the activities of authorized institutions rendering services to the population. The policy on denationalization of this sphere will contribute to the improvement of the quality and volume of the provision of social ser-vices, diversity, including through the partnership of NPOs and commercial organizations. 4
According to the number of subjects involved, the most representative are the following: the work of social groups in the executive bodies of administration and the organization of a thematic dialogue with the public. The most costly forms are recognized: participation in the activities of civil society institutions and support for the activities of non-profit organizations. The most labor-intensive forms are recognized: the organization and conduct of public discussions and the organization and provision of public relations.
The logic of the continuation of the research is to collect and analyze statistical data on the operation of each of the forms of interaction between society and the state and to identify forms that are not conditioned by the influence of the state but are a pure initiative of the society.