Abstract: This article examines the attitude of the population of Russian Federation towards the presidents of the country in the context of “democratic transition” theories. The research of political development of countries with the transition type of democracy, which post-Soviet Russian is referred to as, or democratic transits, hold special place in the world political science. The peculiarities of public opinion regarding the establishing Russian democracy were not left without attention of the foreign sociological research; due to this fact, based on the example of little-studied public opinion polls conducted by the foreign authors, it is demonstrated how they view the population’s perception of the institution and persona of the president and his impact upon the  development of country’s political system. This work analyzes the foreign research carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, surveys of Pew Research Center, and others. The main result lies in the introduction into the scientific discourse of a number of little-studied foreign research, which confirm a foreign idea that the transit of democracy formed a hybrid government in post-Soviet Russia (hybrid regime, authoritarian democracy, electoral authoritarianism). In addition to that, the provided opinions and results can considered in structuring the long-term image strategies by the Russian government.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the view of the foreign and particularly English-American scholars upon one of the imperative institutions of state authority of any country – the Parliament, or in this case, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.  The perception of Russian in public consciousness of Western countries has always been synonymous with controversy, bordering disapproval and condemnation, which generally reflects the overall relationship between Russian and the West. The foreign researchers of the Russian democratic transit demonstrate that the main vector of the analysis lies in the President of the Russian Federation, but we can also observe pool of the research dedicated to the legislative branch of authority. The authors examine several most illustrative articles on the development of the Russian Parliament of the first four convocations, and based on this, their view upon the genesis of this institution can be traced. The scientific novelty consists in the use of particular little-studied works on this topic on the language of origin. Analyzing these works, the authors conclude that the attitude towards the Parliament changes with time, which correlates with the relation of the Western society regarding the Russian reality. The descriptions differ from the very “democratic” parliament during the time of B. N. Yeltsin to the rubber-stamp parliament of the Presidential Administration during V. V. Putin’s presidency.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the view of the foreign and particularly English-American scholars upon one of the imperative institutions of state authority of any country – the Parliament, or in this case, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.  The perception of Russian in public consciousness of Western countries has always been synonymous with controversy, bordering disapproval and condemnation, which generally reflects the overall relationship between Russian and the West. The foreign researchers of the Russian democratic transit demonstrate that the main vector of the analysis lies in the President of the Russian Federation, but we can also observe pool of the research dedicated to the legislative branch of authority. The authors examine several most illustrative articles on the development of the Russian Parliament of the first four convocations, and based on this, their view upon the genesis of this institution can be traced. The scientific novelty consists in the use of particular little-studied works on this topic on the language of origin. Analyzing these works, the authors conclude that the attitude towards the Parliament changes with time, which correlates with the relation of the Western society regarding the Russian reality. The descriptions differ from the very “democratic” parliament during the time of B. N. Yeltsin to the rubber-stamp parliament of the Presidential Administration during V. V. Putin’s presidency.

Abstract: The article analyzes the new and trending information and communication technologies in public administration. More pressingly  than ever before stands the question of political and economic modernization before the government . In this article the authors try to show successful projects of political crowdsourcing in the Russian Federation, as a variant of the successful modernization of a political process that involves broad public involvement in policymaking to improve governance at the municipal level or the control over execution of the legislation. The authors examine the political development of crowdsourcing in Russia, and indicate its prospects as an effective means of engaging people in the development processes of government decisions, public control over observance of legislation. The authors examine the political crowdsourcing in terminology and institutional point of view and formulate the notion of political crowdsourcing, show the most successful examples of its application in Russia. Moreover various problems occur during operation of political crowdsourcing. For their solution, the authors formulated a few General rules that will shape people's loyalty to the political crowdsourcing platform, and, therefore, want to work on it.

Abstract: In this article the author gives attention to the relevant question of the modern political, as well as theoretical science, precisely the coverage by foreign researchers of the history and realities of the establishment of presidential authority in the post-Soviet Russia. It is an important aspect for both, the “transitological” researches, and researches on history of political institutions of the country, including the understanding the roots of its current state. The author examines not only the institutional aspect, but what is equally important, the public opinion with regards to the presidents, and the political institution itself. This article analyzes the foreign research conducted in cooperation with the Russian institute of sociology (Russian Academy of Science), surveys by Pew Research Center, and others. The author concludes that the majority of the English-speaking authors agree on the fact that the society supported the “strong persona” of the president, exactly as proposed by the “superpresidentialism”. During the difficult historical period, the government chose a not quite democratic institutional façade with a grand role of presidential authority, but which was supported by the population.

Abstract: This article discusses communication and information technologies, crowdsourcing in particular, which has been used successfully in some regions to improve the interaction between citizens and the local government, resulting in more efficient improvement of the "urban environment". In addition, an inflation of democratic values, or recession of democracy is a modern reality around the globe , therefore the demand for a solidification of legitimacy of municipal power. The city government is better at responding to the needs of the society through crowdsourcing. The credibility of the authorities is increased, thereby increasing its legitimacy in the eyes of the population. The article discusses the experience of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod in the creation of crowdsourcing platforms aimed at improving the "urban environment". The author comes to the conclusion that the use of crowdsourcing platforms can be very popular to improve "the urban environment" both by society and the government. The use of the resource of active citizens in crowdsourcing projects and e-referendums as they do in Moscow besides the obvious reputational benefits that brings city government to the economic and management benefits.