Abstract: The focus of attention in this article falls on the activity of modern national associations using the example of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Representing the interests of the various national groups, they perform the role of important mediators between society and the government, contributing to social administration. In the Russian conditions, such associations as the civil society institutions, represent the strong political resource, which introduces certain contradiction into their work. The intended to express and defend the interest of their peoples, they conform to the appetence of the political elites and own ambitions, which leads to the loss of trust and discredits them as the effective mediators and actors of social governance. The article analyzes the work of associations of the largest ethnic groups in the Republic of Bashkortostan – Russian, Bashkir and Tatar. The history of the modern national movement is viewed within the framework of the three main stage since 1989, the most significant and impactful of which became the first one. Despite the decline in the activity of national movements, dilution of ethnic boundaries with the values of individualism, they retain their relevance for a variety of reasons.  Among them are the contradictory conditions of globalization, results of the complicated and lingering modernization in Russia, problems of nation-building, weak positions of civic identity. The work of the national associations is a somewhat sensitive indicator of the state of civil society in the subjects of the Russian Federation. For the two decades, they amassed substantial experience, which remains insufficiently studied from the positive and constructive perspective that is essential for the effective implementation of the government’s national policy and social administration.

Keywords: pro-government associations, national associations, nation building, social interests, interethnic consent, civil consent, civil society, social management, national policy, national groups

Abstract: This article examines the questions pertinent to the theoretical category of the form of government. Currently, within the national legal literature prevails the elementary approach that suggests distinguishing the form of government and the political regime. The author determines the need in updating such approach. The political-legal processes demonstrate the increased correlation between the indicated elements of the forms of government, which no longer allows considering them as the independent substances. Therefore, the theory of state and law must implicitly shift towards systemic approach, which takes into account the interaction of the categories and answers the questions on the concept of the form of government, principles of classification and principles of the structure of public authority. The author carefully examines the types of relation between the form of government and the political regime, as well as proposes the new classification of the governments into monocratic and polycratic.

Keywords: government agencies, public authority, polycracy, monocracy, form of government, political regime, state form, democracy, form of territorial organization, jurisprudence

Abstract: The subject of this research is the issues and contradictions emerging in the process of independent evaluation of service quality rendered by the social organization. As most relevant is regarded the problem of methodical support of the system of independent evaluation, problem of methodological indisposition of community boards on which behalf is conducted the independent inspection, but also the social organizations themselves towards the procedure of evaluating the quality of rendered services. A pressing issue is the need for arranging the social organizations of different types of services and varying funding levels. The author makes emphasis on the questions of “independence” of evaluation of the quality of social services, as well as formal approach to its realization. The scientific novelty lies in identification of the issues related to implementation of the independent evaluation of social services into a widescale practice. The discussion of issues alongside the settlement of contradictions will allow improving the system of independent evaluation and its performance, as well as contribute to the effective use of independent evaluation of service quality for the purpose of realization of the state’s social policy.

Keywords: social essessment, terms of service, social organization, social sphere, quality of services, independent assessment, criteria of quality assessment, free environment, rating of orgabizations, service recipient

Abstract: This article examines the results of sociological survey on migrants’ adaptation in the Republic of Buryatia in 2018. The author describes the attitude of local population towards external migrants, arriving to Buryatia for temporary or permanent residence, which is characterizes as fairly tolerant, positive or neutral. The discrepancy is established between the need for government measures on integration of the foreign workforce and ambiguous opinions of the population on the need for adaptation of migrants in the accepting environment. In the course of this research, the following questions were discussed: whether the population concerns regarding the migration flows are justified; is there a need to foster external labor for the development of regional economy; is it necessary to increase economic mobility and encourage the adaptation of foreign workforce. Based on the questionnaire data, expert and focus group interview, the author determines the difference in perception of migrants between the residents of urban and rural areas of the Republic of Buryatia. In terms of the ongoing outflow of local population and potential replacement of the persons of employable age, the unqualified migrants begin to fill unwanted positions, but highly unlikely will contribute to the regional economic growth due to being the cheap workforce. Worsening of the socioeconomic situation and continuous poverty of the population create the prerequisites for stereotyped remarks with regards to migrants, and at the same is one of the causes of unattractiveness of the region for larger-scale migration. Therefore, the key factor for eliminating the negative socio-psychological assessments on the migrants is the economic and cultural development of peoples of the republic.

Keywords: foreign labor, regional economy, integration, adaptation, migration policy,, migration situation, external migrants, host society, attitude of the population, poverty

Abstract: This article examines the questions of public administration in the modern Russian society in the aspect of realization the attributable postmodernist trends; lists the instruments of citizens’ participation in decision-making within the system of government and municipal administration; as well as analyzes the limitations in the use of such instruments. Based on the analysis of the index of institutional confidence, level of electoral and lawmaking activities of the population, the author determines the tasks, which solution will allow forming the effective mechanism for implementation of public administration in modern Russian society built on the principles of transparency, participation and collaborations. In the context of the fundamental system-functional approach to the object under consideration, the author applied the following analytical methods: structural, historical-logical, complex, comparative and monographic. The conclusions lean in the results of the use of the methods of classification, structuralizing, comparison, arrangement and indexing. The application of heuristic potential of the indicated methods increased the level of confidence in the author’s assessments and argumentation of the formulated conclusions and recommendations. The main conclusion of the conducted research lies in the statement that in the conditions of postmodernity, the implementation of functions of the actors of public administration by the citizens depends on the quality of institutional environment that should be based on the principles of transparency, participation and collaboration. Ensuring growth institutional confidence and citizens’ activeness in the modern Russian society will contribute to increasing efficiency of use of social resource due to transparency of the processes of making and implementing decisions within the system of government and municipal administration.

Keywords: electoral activity, civil activity, institutional trust index, civic engagement tools, postmodernism, public administration, voter turnout, lawmaking activity, transparency, collaboration

Abstract: This article explores the possible prospects for the development of the currently existing technologies of artificial neural networks (artificial intelligence) in the area of producing social harmony. The author examines the possible vectors in advancement of such technologies in the short-term and medium-term perspective. The capabilities of such technologies are viewed with regards to optimization of production, resource conservation, solution of environmental and healthcare problems, as well as national security. The risk of using the new technology are viewed in the context of terrorist threat. The possibilities of artificial intelligence by the leading world powers are considered. The research results contain the previously unpublished theses on the capabilities of new technologies of neural networks (artificial intelligence) and potential use of such technologies by the key international players. The author underlines the importance and need for state regulation in this field. A conclusion is made on the relevance of international agreement in the sphere of cyber security.

Keywords: personal assistant, cybersecurity, digital transparency, national security, artificial intelligence, infocapsule, artificial neuroweb, model propaganda-economy, Keynes-Bernays model, Alice-Yandex

Abstract: The subject of this research is the various foreign policy concepts of the Presidents of the United States B. Obama and D. Trump alongside the White House administrations, which shape the country’s state policy ultimately reflected in the US National Security Strategies (2010, 2015, 2017) that signify the shift of the United States towards the unipolar worlds and entering the path of hegemonism, search for the efficient leadership behavioral models, change the foreign policy mentality of the nation, acknowledge versatility of the world, continue the evolution of US power with regards to transformation of the global geopolitical system. The scientific novelty consists in the comprehensive understanding of the fundamental shifts in US policy after the end of the cold war, as well as in pursuance of the new role in the world following the lead of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush , Barack Obama, Donald Trump and the standing behind them powers that test the various foreign policy principles, concepts, approaches and leadership models for over a quarter of a century. Each president, on the background of differences in the methods of domestic policy, conducts their foreign policy course, an objective assessment of which in the global political flow will only be given by time.

Keywords: armed forces, terrorism, strategic partnership, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, National Security Strategy, US Congress, american leadership, cyberspace, great power competition