PUBLIC ASSOCIATIONS AS PUBLIC GOVERNANCE SUBJECTS: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF RUSSIA)

Natalia Butusova Professor /Voronezh State University

Olga Butusova Competitor of a scientific degree

Abstract: Public associations are not only the most important elements of civil society, but also subjects of public administration, which understood as a purposeful, ordering influence of the subject of government on social processes in accordance with the socially significant functions and powers assigned to it. Public associations can ensure optimal management impact on all spheres of life, combining knowledge of the management object and understanding of existing difficulties and problems, as well as ways and means of overcoming them. However, all these are still only potential opportunities, at least in Russia. At present, public associations in the Russian Federation have lost many rights in both the economic and political spheres of life in comparison with the Soviet period of Russian history. For example, the last Soviet constitutions, as one of the most important forms of socialist property, secured the property of public organizations that had the right to initiate legislation, had the right to nominate candidates for deputies, etc. All these rights have remained in history, and, unfortunately, their right to participate in decision-making by state authorities and local self-government bodies, enshrined in the current law on public associations, is practically not implemented.
The paper, through the prism of the theory of public administration and the science of constitutional law on the basis of the principle of historicism and the comparative approach, analyzes the reasons that prevent public associations from participating in legislative activities, in the adoption of administrative decisions, in public control over the activities of state authorities and local self government bodies on issues affecting the interests of public associations. The authors propose measures aimed at correcting the current situation.

Keywords: public associations, public administration, public control, participation in lawmaking, managerial decision