Vol 25, No 3 (2023): Political Urban and Rural Studies

Due to the gigantic scale of Russia’s territory, the problem of the settlement system and urban agglomerations as its primary development centres is urgent. The purpose of this research is to identify opportunities and limitations, both legal and organizational, for the formation of governance systems for urban agglomerations. Having conducted a comparative analysis of the development and functioning of such systems in some countries with the conditions existing in the St. Petersburg region, the second populous city of Russia, the authors for the first time identify the development and governance problems of the urban agglomeration, the territory of which includes fully or partly the territories of two subjects of the Russian Federation: the federal city and the surrounding Leningrad region (oblast). For both variants of the agglomeration - with the 60 km and 120 km radius - the authors determine the model of the public power system for the Saint Petersburg agglomeration, acceptable from the point of view of the Russian legislation and the main modern management principles of rationality, effectiveness, and efficiency. The model does not envisage institutionalization with the creation of a complete public power system for the entire region but should be focused on the joint performance of functions with the inclusion in the process of all levels and authorities responsible for the life quality in the region. The first steps in this direction have been taken by both federation subjects in recent years. The unification of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region into one subject of federation, as well as the partial annexation of the region’s territory to the federal city, are not yet considered.

Urbanization and Population policies are critical influential factors of economic growth, the quantitative and qualitative methods are applied to analyze the relationship between urbanization, population policy from 1950 to the present. The analysis of the correlations and patterns of urbanization processes and economic growth, allows to make prediction of future trends. China’s economy and urbanization are mutually beneficial. In the process of urbanization, a large quantity of labor has been transferred the secondary and tertiary industries, which significantly improved production efficiency. The population transfers from rural areas to small and medium-sized cities, and from small and mediumsized cities to large cities. The cities in the certain areas form a huge urban agglomeration. This brings a certain imbalanced regional development. People move from the western region to the eastern region because the economy in the eastern coastal area is more developed, with more employment opportunities, infrastructure, and medical care, which leads to imbalanced regional development. Based on the model prediction, the process of urbanization will reach its peak in 2040, and the urbanization rate will be more than 80 percent.

In modern Russia, the problems of institutionalized participation of the communities of major regional centers in political conflict management and decision-making on the urban development agenda are becoming more relevant. Political institutionalization is considered by the authors in the context of the liberal theory of conflict, the neo-institutional approach, and illiberal peacebuilding. The authors draw conclusions on the growth of the subjectivity of urban communities with their lack of involvement in the system of political governance at the city level, based on the data of an empirical study conducted through semi-structured interviews with leaders and activists of urban communities in three major regional centers of Russia - Voronezh, Krasnodar, Yaroslavl, as well as an expert survey in these cities. The analysis of the “Krasnodar Tram” case reveals such problems as the low level of institutional trust in the system of interactions between urban communities and local authorities, as well as the lack of effective mechanisms for coordinating decisions in a conflict. Thus, the political institutionalization of communities is limited in scale, which is due to the state of the public policy space at the municipal level, the hybrid nature of institutional regulation, as well as the structure and characteristics of the activities of the communities themselves.

Currently, there is a significant transformation of world politics at different levels, when non-State actors and sub-State territorial entities are intensifying their international activities. Indeed, the leading urban centers of the world - global and world cities do not stay away from these processes. The most ambitious, purposeful cities which are actively involved in global processes get a chance to break into the elite. An illustrative example of the implementation of these processes is the city of Dubai, which in a short, historically speaking, period went from a small fishing village to a leading global center - a well-known world city. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the prerequisites, stages, main influencing factors and specifics of the development of international activity and the formation of Dubai as a world city. The research methodology is based on systematic, structural and functional research methods, a concrete historical approach, which allowed to identify historical preconditions, and periodization, to explore the scheme of the genesis of world cities on the example of the city of Dubai.

The balanced urban development, the formation of a comfortable urban environment, including the citizens’ active participation in these processes is a priority in the strategic objectives and national projects of the Russian Federation. To reveal the essence of the interactions between society and government the author uses the concept of “civic participation” as a process by which public associations or individuals are involved in interactions with the state (vertical interaction), with other socio-political institutions among themselves (horizontal interaction) to solve socially significant problems. Based on quantitative (questionnaire survey of the urban population, N = 2000) and qualitative (expert interviews, N = 47) methods tested in 5 large cities of the Northwestern Federal District, the author reveals the features of offline and online practices of interaction between the public and authorities, as well as the conditions for their formation in urban development issues. The author concludes that such practices as contacting the authorities and participating in initiative budgeting are more widespread in the cities than, for example, protest participation on the city’s issues. Despite the preference for offline practices for constructive interactions between society and authorities, the active use of information resources and online services is becoming timely. The institutional environment of civic participation is provided with formal regulators, but urban residents are far from being fully informed about them and are not aware of the legal opportunities and limitations that determine their participation in urban development. Informal norms as part of the institutional environment, on the one hand, contribute to the formation of sustainable interactions and organizational infrastructure of socially useful activity; on the other hand, they can be based on the illegal practice of manipulating statuses and resources, which causes the growth of public distrust of state and municipal authorities. The article substantiates the importance of forming a unified information field at the city level on the topical issues of concern to residents, on possible formats of civic participation in the development of a comfortable urban environment. The findings contribute to the understanding of the problems and opportunities for the use of civic participation in urban development.

The development of rural areas of the Krasnodar region has to be studied within the framework of the spatial development policies implemented at the federal and regional levels and the features of social and demographic processes in the rural population of the region. The author concludes about significant structural changes in the composition of the rural population of the Kuban, which, due to the inertia of demographic processes, are not yet so noticeable today, but in the future may become irreversible. The author also notes that the development of rural areas in the region, in the presence of several general trends, is characterized by heterogeneity, which requires the development and implementation of spatial development programs considering the characteristics of specific rural areas. In addition, it should be considered that the models used in the implementation of rural development policies should consider not so much the economic component of the village (sectoral model), but focus on the development, first of all, of human capital in the unique conditions of a particular territory (neo-endogenous and territorial models).

Remote electronic voting (REV) as technology is gradually taking root in the political practice in Russia. As the technology is legally and chronologically new, it is both interesting and necessary to explain its implementation, as well as to identify the technological basis of the REV and, therefore, questions about the potential illegal use of this technology. This study aims at identifying the elements of the analysis of the implementation and legitimation of REV in cities and villages across Russia. The research is based on qualitative sociological and general logical methods: in general, the author uses the dialectical-materialistic approach, as well as the tools of comparative politics. A series of expert interviews were conducted in 10 regions of Russia. The results of the study showed that the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, the regional election commissions of the subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as regional and municipal authorities where the REV is being held, are at this stage looking for specific technologies to legitimize electronic voting. These practices will differ not only when comparing different regions, but also, most often, within one subject. One of the most significant differences will be noticeable with the introduction of REV in highly urbanized massifs and rural areas. Urban areas are characterized by the wide usage of political technologies to attract voters to electronic voting and legitimize it. Significantly larger budgets are invested in propaganda materials, including large, printed products (billboards, advertising at bus stops, and public transport). The idea of electronic voting is being promoted in social networks, mainly through VK, Telegram, Odnoklassniki, and WhatsApp. The rural areas, meanwhile, are characterized by activities aimed at personal contact with the voters and the use of informal connections. At the same time, today messages in social networks also reach rural residents, although most often it is not a purposeful activity, but a background capture of the audience. Concerning the improvement of the technological basis and the expansion of the geography of the REV, we can further elaborate on its legitimization and implementation, including in the context of the issues identified in this study.