Population Involvement in Dealing with Local Community Problems in the Rural Areas of Latvia

The public prefers to express their opinions on the development of the surrounding area, make assessments and comments, as well as participate in surveys. However, the involvement of the public itself in improving the immediate surroundings and in solving the problems of its fellows is not always sufficient. The research aims to determine whether there are differences in public involvement in addressing municipal problems across various population groups within a municipality. The paper presents the results of an extensive survey. The research considered problems within one municipality in Latvia – Jelgava municipality – and analysed the rural territories located in the immediate vicinity of the centre of the municipality as well as those being the furthest from the centre. The results of the research revealed that young people were most satisfied with their lives in their municipality if their places of residence were closer to the centre of the municipality. The ability to influence the decisions of one’s own local government was highly valued by residents in the age group from 26 to 44 years in the rural territories that were in the immediate vicinity of the centre the municipality, yet this possibility was most often rated as weak among the youth living in the most remote rural territories from the centre of the municipality. Population involvement in solving a problem relevant to the society was the most frequently used way when the population requested a municipal employee to solve this problem. A large segment of the society in rural areas admitted that they did nothing, and this passivity was also evident in the group of young people who lived further away from the centre of the municipality. The involvement of the population in national-level public activities across all age groups and territories was quite equal, as the active population were involved in Saeima elections, campaigns for collecting signatures and donating various thing

Living Conditions of Employees of the Verkhneudinsk City Public Self-Government in 1917

Based on archival materials and regional historiography, the article describes the main aspects of the daily life of an employee of the Verkhneudinsky city public self-government in 1917. The authors examined important criteria for assessing the quality of life of local government employees during the revolutionary period: the size of the salary, the price of food and basic necessities. The study of the material security of the municipal employee allows us to note the close relationship between the collapse and the construction of a new state apparatus and the trends that are manifested in social policy in the field of remuneration of employees of city government. Based on the above data, the authors give an analysis of the monetary content of civil servants of the Verkhneudinsky city government. Particular attention is paid not only to the size of the salary of a member of the city government and its changes over time under the influence of both internal and external political factors, but also to the possibility of a comfortable existence on their salary.

KEY RESEARCH PROBLEMS OF STAFFING FOR MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES

The article provides an overview of scientific research devoted to the problem of providing local authorities with personnel in modern Russia. The author analyzes the evolution of the local government system in Russia. The emphasis in the work is made on sociological works that have their own specifics. The purpose of the article: to systematize scientific research, their problems, highlighting the specifics of the sociological approach, on the basis of the analysis of the research base, On the basis of the analysis of the research base, the problems in the process of training personnel for local governments are identified and directions for improving the training of personnel for municipal authorities are indicated. The methodology of the article is made up of the main provisions of the sociology of management, the sociology of state and municipal service, affecting the training of personnel for the municipal service. As a result of the study, the author draws conclusions about the existing gaps in the current system of training personnel for local governments. The author identified the directions for improving the training of personnel for local governments: improving the system of advanced training, an objective and comprehensive assessment of the professionalism and professional qualities of a municipal employee, improving the system of motivation and remuneration.

Corruption Criminal Study in the Sphere of Russian Federation Local Government

<p>The purpose of the study is the criminological analysis of a criminal identity who commits corruption crimes in the sphere of local self-government. Based on dialectical materialistic methodology use and the survey method, it is revealed the main signs, classifications and typologies of a criminal's personality, who commits corruption crimes in this sphere. Effective preventive measures are proposed to reduce the number of persons committing corruption crimes. The results suggest that there is desire to illegally enrich through the abuse of authority and the underestimation of municipal employee work by state bodies. Therefore, ti is necessary to pay attention to the mechanisms of disposition and sanction implementation concerning the norms of criminal legislation in law enforcement practice.</p>

Public Employees as Politicians: Evidence from Close Elections

We analyze the effect of municipal employees’ political representation in municipal councils on local public spending. We use within-party, as-good-as-random variation in close elections in the Finnish open-list proportional election system to quantify the effect. One more councilor employed by the public sector increases spending by about 1%. The effect comes largely through the largest party and is specific to the employment sector of the municipal employee. The results are consistent with public employees having an information advantage over other politicians, and thus, being able to influence policy.