Independent Assessment of Public Authority: Problems of Practical Implementation

Abstract

In the Russian Federation, the effectiveness of public power and its institutions has been assessed relatively recently and not at all levels. Currently, the activities of senior officials and executive authorities of the regions of Russian Federation, local self-government bodies, the results and quality of public services, the activities of social organizations are subject to evaluation. However, questions arise about the achievement of the purpose of this activity, about the reflection of the introduced criteria and indicators of the influence of public authorities on the state of public life. From these problematic positions, the article examines the practice of independent evaluation as a form of public control over the activities of public authorities and organizations performing socially significant functions, examines domestic and foreign experience in creating expert analytical centers. As a result of the study, it was concluded that with the existing legal regulation of evaluating the effectiveness of public institutions, an integrated approach is not provided, which leads to a lack of a real assessment of their impact on social development. Independent evaluation is often compensated or replaced by other methods of evaluation, including quasi-evaluation, which, unlike expert evaluation, is reduced to a description of the collected data, and not to an analysis of the causes and consequences of managerial decision-making. The way out of the current situation of "quasi-evaluation" is seen in the formation of a conceptual framework for assessing the effectiveness of public power, which will require further modernization of federal legislation. An independent assessment in the modern constitutional and legal doctrine can and should be considered as a possible and necessary model of lawful behavior based on the interaction and solidarity of the individual, society and the state.