The Right to Water, Law and Municipal Practice: Case Studies from India

Recognition of the right to water in Indian courts has had little impact on the ground. This paper explores the seeming disjuncture between what happens in the court and the everyday reality of living with a less-than-perfect claim on city water services in India’s urban slums. The paper seeks to understand and contextualise a court ruling which looks like it declares a right to water for people in urban slums, but in effect gives them little beyond what they already had. The paper also looks at the ‘everyday reality’ of municipal administration and the provision of drinking water in slums through in-house connections and community taps. In both case studies, the author looks to understand how the practice relates to frameworks of law and policy that shape the rationality and scope of action of the actors concerned, both judges and municipal officials. She found that the issue of land was the main stumbling block in both places, but it was conceptualized a little differently in each situation. These case studies underscore the critical importance of making the local interface between poor people and the state more empowering in order for rights to become local and meaningful.

Development and testing of a model of distance education

This paper aims to present a universal model applicable at all levels of distance learning, in a region and particular educational organization. The authors applied a systematic approach to consider the introduction of distance education as an activity, whose result depends on the current sociocultural conditions in the region, including the specifics of the population, the labor market, the socioeconomic and political situation, and the quality of teaching in educational organizations. The scientific novelty of the research includes the theoretical and methodological substantiation of a universal model for implementing distance education. It involves mandatory monitoring and support measures at all levels of administration: the micro- (an educational organization), meso- (regional and municipal administration), and macro-administration (the state). Exploring the research problem, the authors revealed that distance learning effectiveness is directly connected with the quality of the regional analysis of sociocultural factors at the planning and forecasting stage.

Research on the Status and Development of Administrative Services in Local Administration in Bulgaria

The article presents some of the results of a study of the state of administrative services in local administration in Bulgaria. The research is conducted within the framework of research contract № NID NI-2/2019 of UNWE on the topic: Integrated model for administrative services at the local executive administration. The research is of a practical and applied nature and covers the two programming periods of Bulgaria’s membership in the European Union. The results of two independent studies are presented: a study of implemented municipal projects for improvement of administrative services; a survey for establishment of the current state of administrative services at local level. The main problems and challenges for the administrative service in the municipal administration are summarized.

Public sentiment of the population in the new social reality: a municipal cross-section

The article analyses the dynamics of public sentiment of residents of the Vologda Region. The author’s methodology for index analysis of public sentiment of the region, using the results of sociological monitoring, has been presented. At the same time, the main emphasis has been made on assessing the peculiarities of public sentiment of residents of municipalities – the cities of Vologda and Cherepovets in the context of changing social reality. The results of the study showed that the analysis of public sentiment in the monitoring regime makes it possible to obtain important information about the quality of state and municipal administration and determine the areas for improving their effectiveness, which is particularly relevant in the context of the socio-economic and epidemiological crisis.

On the Political Aspects of Development of the System of State and Municipal Management in Ukraine

The article examines the history of the formation and reform of the system of state and municipal administration in Ukraine. In the conditions when the socio-political space of Ukraine is characterized by pronounced regionalism, and the issue of transition to a federal state system is excluded from the real political agenda, the nature of the development of the system of state and municipal administration can serve as a reflection of the ratio of centrifugal and centripetal trends in the internal political development of Ukraine. The article presents an analysis of the factors of internal political development of Ukraine that most influenced the formation of a centralized system of territorial administration in the country in the post- Soviet period and predetermined the weakness of local self-government, as well as the reasons for the failure of several attempts at reforms. Special attention is paid to the implementation of the decentralization policy after 2014. The article reveals the connection of the concept of modern administrative-territorial reform in Ukraine with the settlement process in the Donbas, as well as with the approaches in Western political science, according to which decentralization is considered as a tool for neutralizing the political potential of regionalism and countering regional separatism. The results and political orientation of decentralization in the context of the acute socio- economic crisis in Ukraine are evaluated.

IMPROVING THE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF A SPECIALIST IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT ON THE BASIS OF INCREASING COMPETENCE IN STATE AND MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION

Отрасль «Физическая культура и спорт» в настоящее время находится в стадии активного реформирования. Происходит модернизация системы, пересматриваются подходы к организации трудовой и учебно-тренировочной деятельности, а также физкультурно-массовой работе с различными группами населения. Специфика профессиональной деятельности в данной сфере становится все более очевидной и требует наличия у специалистов соответствующих особых профессиональных компетенций. В условиях реформирования особую актуальность имеет подготовка квалифицированных управленческих кадров, обладающих необходимыми знаниями и практическими умениями в области организации и управления деятельностью государственных (муниципальных) и общественных физкультурно-спортивных организаций. Действующие федеральные государственные образовательные стандарты по направлению подготовки (бакалавров, магистров) «Педагогическое образование» предусматривают необходимость формирования у выпускников готовности к решению задач профессиональной деятельности не только педагогического, но и организационно-управленческого типа. Рассмотрены результаты исследований, направленных совершенствование профессиональной подготовки студентов – будущих педагогов по физической культуре и спорту на основе повышения их компетентности в вопросах государственного и муниципального управления. На основе анкетирования государственных (муниципальных) гражданских служащих, осуществляющих управление в области физической культуры и спорта, выявлен перечень профессионально значимых знаний, умений и навыков, необходимых специалисту для эффективного выполнения организационно-управленческих функций в данной сфере с учетом современных социально-экономических условий. Приведены методические рекомендации по формированию у студентов профессионально значимых знаний, умений и навыков, необходимых для эффективного выполнения функций государственного (муниципального) управления в сфере физической культуры и спорта в современных условиях. The Physical culture and sport branch is currently in the stage of active reforming. The system is being modernized. Approaches to the organization of labor and educational-training activities, as well as physical-mass work with various population groups are being revised. The specifics of professional activity in this area is becoming more and more obvious and requires specialists to have appropriate special professional competencies. In the context of reforming, the training of qualified management personnel with the necessary knowledge and practical skills in organizing and managing the activities of state (municipal) and public physical and sport organizations is particularly relevant. The current federal state educational standards in the direction of (bachelors, masters) «pedagogical education» consider the need to form graduates’ readiness to solve problems of professional activity not only of pedagogical, but also of organizational and managerial type. The article gives the results of studies aimed at improving the professional education of students, that are future teachers in physical culture and sports on the basis of increasing their competence in matters of state and municipal administration. Based on a questionnaire survey of state (municipal) civil employees in charge of management in the field of physical culture and sports, there was made a list of professionally significant knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for a specialist to effectively perform organizational and managerial functions in this area, taking into account modern socio-economic conditions. The article represents methodological recommendations for the formation of professionally significant knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for the effective fulfillment of the state (municipal) management functions in the field of physical culture and sports under modern conditions.

Parameters Influencing Citizens’ Levels of Satisfaction: Soft Indicators of ‘Good Governance’

Previous studies highlighted the importance of soft indicators (e.g., quantitative sociological survey) influencing citizen satisfaction towards municipal service quality. Citizen satisfaction assessments have raised concerns over numerous independent parameters such as gender, age, and education on satisfaction levels toward administrative performance. It is also crucial to underline that the application of sociological survey for improving service quality is not well understood by municipal officers or scholars. To obtain substantial combined multiple indicators of service quality, it seems rationale to reconnoitre numerous parameters of citizen satisfaction and quantitatively investigate impacts of independent variables (e.g., gender, age, education) on corresponding satisfaction levels by using some advanced statistical tools. In this sociological assessment, a targeted population was constructed of Bangkok Metropolitan administration (BMA) stakeholders (n = 38,500), which are as follows: -       Bangkok residents in 50 districts under the governance of BMA -       Board committee, executive directors and general staff of 27 BMA offices This multiple dimensional analysis sociological survey data indicates that gender, age, and education play some important roles in governing municipal citizen satisfaction levels. Overall, the knowledge of relationship between citizen satisfaction levels and independent parameters can enhance the service quality of municipal administration.

Public policies and social rights: employment and income in Brazil

The analyzes of public policies and their interface with the law are related to the effectiveness of fundamental rights. This article aims to analyze how the creation and execution of public policies aimed at the realization of fundamental social rights, especially those aimed at employment and income, as well as the judicial control of these public policies, are carried out. It seeks to identify the mechanisms and limits inherent to Public Administration to promote the realization of these rights in an equal way. The investigation of institutional designs, federative arrangements, and programs and the legal foundations and theoretical bases of public policies founded with the consolidation of the Constitutional State of Law seek to identify possible bottlenecks in the Brazilian Public Administration for the effectiveness of socialrights, such as those aimed at employment nationwide and the municipal administration, especially in Campos dos Goytacazes. The study will be based on a bibliographic research and analysis of the legislative and jurisprudential process on the subject, with data collection from the websites of the federal and municipal government of Campos, Ministério Público, Courts of Auditors, IPEA, IBGE, Federal Chamber of Deputies and well. as the Federal Supreme Court (STF). With the systematization of theoretical references on public policies and fundamental rights, a proposal to identify the articulation and dialogue between the powers in the area of realization of specific social rights related to work and income, and the elaboration of an article summarizing the results achieved by the analysis of effectiveness with the analysis of the importance of the effectiveness of fundamental rights with the identification and systematization of the main institutional obstacles to their implementation