Vol 8, No 4 (2021)

The article examines one of the key concepts of the Eurasianists - demotia. Despite its theoretical significance, the concept of demotia, like many other Eurasian concepts, has not been developed in detail. Meanwhile, demotia, as a concept proposing new principles of self-government, is of special interest and still has a certain practical potential. In Russia, the introduction of the beginnings of local self-government is associated with the Great Reforms of Alexander II. However, the acquired rights were deemed insufficient. Of the constructive criticism of reforms in the sphere of self-government, the most consistent was the theory of A.I. Herzen (“communal socialism”). It was in it that the Eurasians saw the basis for the future organization of the Eurasian space, which received its form in the concept of demotia. The article examines the views of a number of Eurasians on demotia. According to their views, demotia is the most important principle of self-government, which implements the method of “organic representation” of the people at all levels of government (N.N. Alekseev); being a Eurasian demotic system - δημοτία, it is fundamentally different from the Western democratic - δημοκρατία (Ya.D. Sadovsky). They also pointed to the political homogeneity of the demotic system, which was seen as a huge advantage over the multiparty democratic system of the West (N.S. Trubetskoy). As a result of the study, it is concluded that demotia was a necessary part of the ideocracy-demotia construct, actively promoted in the works of the Eurasians, as a project to create a truly classless and harmonious society. Demotia combines the idea of the Eurasian nationality (the circle of traditional ideas of the Eurasian peoples) and the principle of direct democracy, which reconciles the idea of an ethnos as a people as a whole with its traditional ideas and specific ways of being and the idea of a demos as a “political” people.

This study was conducted to investigate the constraint to the effective application of due process in the recruitment and selection of personnel into the federal civil service. Four objectives and four research questions guided the study. A sampling technique was used in carrying out the work. A total number of three hundred (300) respondents were used for the study. The instruments for data collection were a questionnaire and observation checklist. Three hundred (300) copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the staff of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Abuja and two hundred and seventy-six (276) were returned representing a 92% return rate. The frequency table and Mean were the statistical measures employed for the data analysis. The findings revealed that there were no strategies or methods of recruitment and selection of staff into the federal civil service. However, the findings also revealed that practices such as political interference and corruption during recruitment and selection in federal civil service tend to undermine the principle of due process. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the federal civil service commission should formulate sound policies and practices that will minimize the degree of politicization and corruption in the recruitment and selection of staff into the federal civil service; make use of modern sources and techniques of recruitment and selection such as, E-recruitment process and Information & Communication Technology (ICT)-based selection resources as their source of recruitment and selection; and develop strategies or methods that will result in the effective application of due process in their recruitment and selection exercises.

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

This article reports on a study based on cooperative governance and Local Economic Development (LED) in selected small towns in the Western Cape Province. The dearth of an integrative institutional framework to promote collaborative participation negatively influences local municipalities’ ability to successfully manage LED cooperatively with relevant stakeholders. Promoting such inclusive representation and participation of all relevant stakeholders provides a viable and complementary alternative to the traditional bureaucratic governance mechanism. The study investigated the specific factors involved in designing and implementing cooperative governance for LED in selected, comparable municipalities in the Western Cape. Specifically, the study aims to determine the push and pull factors for the successful functioning of cooperative governance aimed at promoting LED in those municipalities. Data were collected through three data collection instruments, namely, document review, interviews, and focus group discussions. The document review is complemented by data from interviews and focus groups discussion. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on cooperative governance by identifying the specific cooperative governance factors, enabling the efficacy and governance of LED in small towns, aimed at positively influencing municipalities’ ability to successfully manage LED cooperatively with relevant stakeholders. An in-depth understanding of the relationship and dynamics of these variables helps to offer recommendations as to how to improve the management and responsiveness to socio-economic concerns within the municipalities through improved LED governance.

One of the most important goals of Russian foreign policy during Vladimir Putin’s presidency is to strengthen Russian influence in the Caucasus region and Central Asia, as well as to develop relations with such countries as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The Russian government has always expressed concern about the so-called “color revolutions” that took place in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, as well as the fact that many of them were supported by Western forces. Russia believes that the events of the “Arab Spring” are in some way similar to the aforementioned revolutions, and that with the support of the West they could bring Islamists to power, which is a dangerous model not only for the countries of the region and the countries neighboring Russia, but also for Russia itself. For these reasons, in the Syrian conflict, Moscow sought to preserve the Assad regime, because believes that the Western model in solving regional problems can lead to the general chaos, like it was, for example, in the Iraqi and Libyan models. Despite the difficulties faced by government officials in Syria since the beginning of the civil war, and thanks to Russian military assistance and reforms, Syria preserved the legitimate regime and did not allow destroying all state institutions. Participation in the Syrian conflict brought Russia a significant role in the region and allowed it to become a successful mediator in most regional issues, as well as to strengthen its economic and political relations with the most important players in the region, as Turkey, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.