The group of authors:
Basargin, V. F., PhD; Baskakova Yu. M., Ph.D.; Bokov M.B., Ph.D.; Byzov L.G., Ph.D.; Davydov L.V., Fedorov, V.V., Ph.D; Ph.D.; Mikeyev, S.A., Ph.D.; Petukhov, V.V., Ph.D.
Edited by VCIOM Director General Dr. Valery Fedorov.
Moscow.; Algorithm, 2009. 192 pages.
Reference:
Local government is either traditional or original topic for Russia. What demands does society make to local elite? How do Russians assess the effectiveness of the government's work locally? What are the problem spot in the development of local government? What can be he results of local government reform? VCIOM presents the sociological research data concerning the spheres of local politics, civil self-government activity, job rating of local government bodies, quality of their personnel, specific character of relations between regional and local government, place and role of local government in national system of government.
Below you can read a section of the presented book:
SOCIOLOGY OF ONE CITY
When there are a lot of problem situations in our society it's very complicated to find more burdened and full of contradictions sphere then local power, local politics, local government and local self-government. Brilliant, at the same time comic and tragic picture of people and relations in local government was given by Gogol in "The Inspector General". Very colorful it was described by Saltykov-Shchedrin in his immortal work "The history of a town". Soviet and post-Soviet literature was not so rich of works devoted to the same topic but we still feel a big likeness between classic literature and modern life.
Sociologists don't compete with fiction writers but they try to give their own professional view on how one or another field, dimension or continuum of public life is arranged. It is especially interesting to reflect process of local government transformation in a real institute unseen in Russia before (or existing for a short time and as a demo).
Since 1993 when local government was stated in Constitution the process of its formation goes very hard. It not only overcomes the mind inertness of all participants but periodically meets with resistance of powerful regional and federal political players. Our political class isn't used to govern free people; our system of power interaction most likely excludes independent type of political practice. Neither elected politicians nor citizens of local communities have personal independence or responsibility.
In this book we tried to describe analyze several acute and loud contradictions of current local government. Dual nature of local government as institute of modern society and government at the same time with their diversity and mutual conflict of interests is a subject of examination for Leonty Byzov. "The main problem is that modern Russian government sincerely doesn't know why local government is needed. However self-government appears not only because of citizens' needs but also because of government's needs". - Byzov writes. It looks like here is the root of all further problems between governmental (federal, regional) and non-governmental (local) authorities forced to live and coexist together but not having experience and thoughts to make it in favor of citizens and mutual benefit.
The contradiction between local and regional levels of power is analyzed by Leonid Davydov. In1990s this structural crisis in most cases led to long-term conservation of bipolar system of power what disturbed citizens and worried federal center. In 2000s under general strengthening of government and reintegration of regional leaders in common system of administration the typical result of this contradiction was dismissal of disagreeable mayor by governor or transition from direct elections of mayor to appointment by local duma. In both cases prestige and influence of mayor is falling quickly. As result self-government for mayor is turned into self-defense, autonomy of local power vanishes; there becomes no room for non-governmental political activity.
Nevertheless I'm not going to sing the praises to the mayors as leaving symbols of democratic sovereignty. The contradiction between democratic nature of local government and wide-spread antidemocratic practice of its functioning is described by Vladimir Petukhov. Speaking on behalf of people, society in the conflicts with government local authorities don't rely on mass activity of citizens but, on the contrary, keep it down trying to make towns and settlements fully dependent on mayor or head of administration. Being once elected our typical mayor doesn't hesitate to break a law and moral trying to stay as long as possible on the post, manipulating by electoral procedure and not contributing to civil activity. Self-government as "lively creation of people" does not take place because of substitution by "lively creation of mayors".
In these conditions the following contradiction (between closeness and importance of local problems to citizens and low trust to local authorities) seems quite natural. As Julia Baskakova writes, the majority of Russians are inclined to consider that local authorities are not independent political power, making its own decisions but only "fulfill the will of higher bosses". And if judge by low assessment of their effectiveness, they make it thoroughly bad. From here there is huge gap between support of the President and support of a typical mayor, head of administration, continuously decreasing level of attendance at the local elections. All together it leads to delegalization of local government not only blamed and attacked every day and every hour by the state but loosing more and more the support of its only source of power - citizens of settlements.
Finally it is obvious that there is a contradiction between the abundance of privileges and the influence of local authorities on common people lives from the one hand and very weak quality of local authorities' personnel from the other hand. It is analyzed by Mikhail Bokov who emphasizes the gap between declared high demands and weak human resources potential of local authorities' bodies. Though the profession "state and municipal management" in our universities doesn't feel deficit of persons interested in studying, the most students prefer government service, not municipal or consider municipal service to be an intermediate step for future career in governmental bodies.
There are still a lot of important and essential problems and contradictions not presented in the book. We said little about financial base of local government, housing and communal services, situation in countryside, plan and practice of realization of local government reform, practice of local elections, etc. Trying to analyze local politics, it becomes clear that this subject is inexhaustible as an atom. I hope that is why our book won't be the last one and we'll be able along with you, respected readers, after a while to continue started today acquaintance with "sociology of one town".
Valery Fedorov, Director General of VCIOM
The book can be bought in Moscow stores.
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