Projects

The Current State of Municipal Government in Russia in the 2010s: Collection and Primary Analysis of Sociological Data

2019-11-27
The project “The Current State of Municipal Government in Russia in the 2010s: Collection and Primary Analysis of Sociological Data” has been implemented since 2018. It involves the creation of a database of municipal socio-demographic and economic indicators of different levels, which will track the models of building up relationships between the public, business and local authorities. One of the further directions of the project development lies in the study of municipalities from the point of view of their implementation of elements of republican practices in their activities.

Underwater Excavations in Novgorod

2019-11-27
 The research program consisted of three independent tasks - archaeological research (with the support of geological exploration), comparative historical analysis and examination of the results in terms of their importance for political theory (formulation of assumptions for municipal reform).

Reassembling Res Publica: Reform of Infrastructure in Post-Soviet Russia (Cherepovets)

2019-11-27
  The center implemented the research project “Reassembling Res Publica: Reform of Infrastructure in Post-Soviet Russia” in 2004-2007 together with the University of Helsinki. The project participants are Oleg Kharkhordin, Olga Bychkova, Olga Kalacheva (EUSP), Risto Alapuro, Rosa Vihavainen (Helsinki University). The goal of the project is to study the development of self-governing organizations in the context of the Russian reform of municipal self-government.

CIVIL LITERACY CAMPAIGN: All About Participatory Processes in the Modern City in 7 Days

2019-11-27
In November-December 2018, the Res Publica center conducted a short-term training program on civic participation projects called "Civil Literacy Campaign: All About Participatory Processes in the Modern City in 7 Days" and led by Oleg Pachenkov. The program was focused on those who are interested in modern forms of civic participation and current trends in urban design.

Studies of Medieval Republics

2019-11-27
Our studies of medieval republics block is devoted to researching republican practices in the medieval Russian cities of Novgorod and Pskov. Until recently, it was believed that it is difficult, if not altogether impossible, to compare such Old Russian republics as Novgorod and Pskov to, say, Italian republics of the Renaissance era. The reason behind this thinking was that almost no public law documents of the Russian republics have survived to this day, unlike those of their Italian counterparts. And yet some structural parallels can be discerned, and several historical comparative studies have been devoted to this topic.

Participatory Budgeting in Russian Municipalities (2013-2018)

2019-11-27
At present, the implementation of fiscal policy at the regional and municipal levels is the prerogative of the executive and, in part, of the legislature. The influence of citizens on the budgeting process is limited to public hearings of the budget, which often do not provide opportunities for interaction between government and society. This is mainly due to the lack of information available and understandable to all citizens about the budgeting process and the conviction of citizens that it is impossible to influence the budget policy. The lack of citizens' interest and adequate feedback between the government and the population is the main characteristic of the current situation. Participatory budgeting (hereinafter - PB) is intended to expand the scope of citizen participation in the budgeting process by involving them in the work of special commissions (consisting of citizens and representatives of the municipality) involved in the distribution of funds allocated to them. 

Russian Republican Thought of the 18th Century

2019-11-27
The project studies the archaeology and genealogy of thought of the Russian Enlightenment and republican traditions of Russian culture that have emerged in the last third of the 18th century. We are interested in the formation of the Russian political language and basic political concepts reflecting the republican values of the common good and modeling the possible options of a common cause. 

Republican theory

2005-03-01
Our Republican theory research block mainly focuses on publishing studies in history of republican thought and practice.