RUDN Journal of Political Science

The complex theoretical picture that has developed around public decision-making is replete with multiple contradictions and risk reflections, which are sometimes quite poorly responsive to the systemic practices that have developed in this area. Interdisciplinary conflicts, scientific traditions based on research in various national polities and supported by authoritative academic schools, as well as the widespread use of normative approaches that heavily rely on democratic priorities for state evolution, all contribute to the persistence and expansion of epistemic divisions in this field of research. Conceptual disagreements and discrepancies regarding even the basic parameters of this process converge only in the understanding of the need for its constant theoretical refinement. But are there any grounds for hope in developing a relatively holistic and comprehensive theoretical model of government decisions that reflects the specific nature of government? In this article, the movement in this direction is associated with further attribution of this process, which reflects the current and, at the same time, specific practices of making this type of decision. Methodologically, such attribution is proposed to be carried out on the basis of a combination of the principles of the agent-based approach (which allows us to display the real composition of the participants in this process, along with the resources, strategies, and typical patterns they use), as well as the network measurement of the mechanism of state goal-setting (which reflects the multi-component logic of the interaction between political and administrative, public, and latent communications). Overcoming the limitations of the normative approach and the principles of individual methodology, this analytical framework allows us to reveal the substantive parameters of state decision-making, which reflect the co-adaptation of the actual participants in this process and the resulting flexibility of their positioning in the public and latent arenas of the modern state, as well as the possibilities and limitations of using administrative and legal tools.

The study of the spheres of interaction between public administration and political management usually includes lobbying of interest groups, political socialization, electoral and state information campaigns, political and administrative conflicts, when the object of investigation is politics and policymaking. Less often, the organizations themselves and the processes of influence, including actors and factors of public administration, are compared. In this research, the classical topic of interaction between administration and politics is presented in a polystructural way, by identifying the specifics of subject-subject relations at different levels of public administration. Political management appears as a kind of immanent «superstructure» of public administration as a set of mechanisms (legal and latent) of the decision-making and execution process, being a structured communication that ensures the exchange of powerfully significant resources between public servants and political actors. The result is a stable system in which, along with bureaucratic rules, the set of political instruments used (polity policies) is expanded. In the latter, an increasing share is occupied by agreements and obligations that affect the motivation of decision-makers and the guidelines for managerial activity. They are transformed in accordance with the dependencies theoretically explained by the patronage, cluster and agency types of mechanisms of interaction between political management and public administration, while the civil society mechanism turns into camouflage. The conclusion of the article: political management not only complicates, but also weakens the actually operating system of powers of state bodies and functional representation of interests.

The study presents an analysis of the role of citizens in a modern state, the mechanisms and results of their influence on the management of state affairs, and how and what influence they have on the activities of the state. It is shown that citizens of democratic states exert a decisive influence on state activities through the institution of elections, which allows them to periodically form political teams to manage state affairs. However, citizens’ electoral behavior does not always facilitate the formation of professional management teams due to significant support for both left-wing and right-wing populism. Between election campaigns, citizens utilize traditional forms of political action-petitions, public statements, and collective and individual appeals to government bodies. Modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) create the conditions for expanding the scale and increasing the efficiency of such actions. In the context of post-industrial civilizational transition, traditional institutions and mechanisms for citizen influence on state authorities are insufficiently responsive and effective due to the delayed adaptation of political systems to new conditions. To compensate for the resulting dysfunction, citizens began to use an inclusive political institution - public mass protests. In authoritarian states, where all traditional institutions and mechanisms for citizen influence over state power are blocked, protests become an institutional factor in the transformation of ruling regimes. The study utilized a neo-institutional approach combined with factual analysis.

Modern elites face growing public demand for expanded channels of representation in political decision-making. Various regional stakeholders are interested in creating the necessary conditions for civic engagement in public authorities in modern Russia. This paper attempts to uncover some theoretical and practical aspects of the participation of representatives of the scientific and expert community in public administration in a specific constituent entity of the Russian Federation. Expert work in the regions is aimed at ensuring a balance of interests of various social groups, adapting federal political initiatives to regional conditions, and supporting sustainable development of territories. The purpose of the study is to clarify expert understanding of the specifics of political decision-making in regional public authorities in modern Russia, using the Voronezh Region as an example. The findings are based on the results of an empirical study in the form of an expert survey, which was conducted in July-August 2025 in the city of Voronezh. The data collection method was in-depth interviews; the sample size was 22 experts. The author identifies the main formats of interaction between public authorities and the scientific expert community, the challenges and prospects for cooperation, as well as key practices for developing regional expert capacity and the levels of political expertise. The key specific characteristics of this type of expertise include the need to consider the multi-level interactions between the federal, regional, and municipal levels of government, the influence of local political and social factors, and the lack of a unified regulatory framework.

The purpose of the study is to identify the possibilities and limitations of artificial intelligence technologies in political forecasting. The principles of simplified factor analysis, as well as critical discourse analysis of academic literature devoted to the use of AI in political forecasting, served as methodological tools. The analysis showed the inconsistency of the introduction of intelligent systems in the field of modern political forecasting. Firstly, among the trigger factors contributing to the development of political AI prognostics, the following were identified: the ability to process huge amounts of information about politics using AI; working out the reliability of future decisions in the field of domestic and foreign policy; high predictive potentials of neural networks with high-quality organization of training and testing; modeling the political behavior of individuals and social groups; identification of precursor of political events by neural networks. Secondly, the stop factors hindering the development of political AI forecasting include: the effect of «poisoning data» due to its inaccuracy, marginality and unreliability; value bias of intelligent systems; substitution of political forecasting by over-fitting data; imperfection of existing political theories used in conjunction with machine learning; tendency of AI to escalation political modeling. The conclusions indicate that the most important trigger factors include the search for hidden political patterns, as well as the hybridization of machine and traditional political forecasting capabilities. It is emphasized that the prospects of the factor of searching for hidden political patterns can balance and exceed the serious risks of the «black box» effect only in combination with the factor of the possibility of hybridization, corresponding to the parameter of the combining the potentials of all three types of forecasting - trend (mathematical), analytical modeling and expertise.

The reducing electoral technologies to the processes of communication of a candidate (party) with voters, which many authors do, unduly narrows the content of this concept. The purpose of the study is to substantiate a broad approach to understanding electoral technologies as mechanisms that control electoral processes in the interests of a particular political entity. That is why electoral technologies occupy a central place in the structure of political management. Each electoral technology represents a synthesis of research, design, communication, organizational, controlling, and financial actions that are rationally organized and time-distributed on the way to achieving results. The research methodology is based on the distinction between electoral technology and electoral strategy, each of which is subject to its own logic. Both strategy and technology are formed on the basis of marketing research of the electoral situation. Political management as a special type of management activity uses the results of marketing research to achieve the goals of a political entity. A successful electoral strategy is unique; its implementation involves a system of coordinated electoral technologies that involve voters in the candidate’s sphere of influence, ensuring that a certain number of voters are included in the total number of supporters of the candidate (party) who are ready to vote for him. Electoral technologies are being developed and used not only by candidates for government and their teams, but also by election commissions, executive authorities and other social actors. It is shown that electoral technology is a synthesis of both material and intellectual actions combined into a single process of influencing the political behavior and consciousness of voters. The prospects of electoral management in Russia are seen in the expansion of pre-selection tools for candidates and in development of political competition. This is a continuation of the state’s electoral policy of promoting genuine patriots who have proven their commitment to the common good.

The effectiveness of business influence channels in the process of drafting and adopting legislative initiatives in Russia remains insufficiently studied, despite their significance for public policy formation. The aim of this study is to identify which institutionally formalized «access points» exist and are used by business actors to participate in the federal legislative process, as well as to analyze their practical effectiveness. The analysis covers the main scenarios of drafting and introducing bills to the State Duma by senators, deputies, and the Government of the Russian Federation. To identify these «access points», the study employs a political and legal analysis of the regulations of the Federation Council, the State Duma, and the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as related normative legal acts and documents that define procedures for the preparation, submission, and consideration of bills. To illustrate the results of the analysis, examples from the practice of developing legislative regulation in the IT sector are provided. The findings identify the main forms of business participation in the legislative process and reveal institutional constraints that reduce the effectiveness of the corresponding «access points».