On the Issue of Forming a System of Strategic Planning Documents as Management Acts

Ishchenko Alexander Alekseevich Postgraduate student, Department of State and Legal Disciplines, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation 119571, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Prospekt Vernadskogo, 82, str.1 3a.bcex@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Public administration is an important element of ensuring the most important processes in the state: national security and protection from threats, law and order, socio-economic development, including the quality of life of the population, the level of medicine and education, demographic indicators and much more. Public administration is implemented with the help of various components, among which it is advisable to include strategic planning. In the study of topical issues of strategic planning in relation to the effectiveness of its application, scientific and practical interest is the study of the features of strategic planning documents as acts of a managerial nature, identifying existing problems and determining prospects for further development. In the current political and socio-economic realities, in the conditions of sanctions pressure and growing tension in the world community, the importance of improving the quality of strategic planning as a component of public administration is only increasing, which determines the expediency of further research in this direction.

It should be noted the specifics of the relationship between public administration and strategic planning. According to A.V. Bobkov, the reserve of strategic strength of the national economy, potential growth points and the effect of protective mechanisms play an essential role in resisting sanctions pressure ^{[1, p. 79]}.

According to N.A. Molchanov, V.P. Egorov, E.K. Matevosova: "Strategic planning is a key vector of the modern state policy of the Russian Federation aimed at solving the problems of sustainable socio–economic development and ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation" ^{[2, p. 28]}.

The importance of strategic planning for the management of the state is beyond doubt due to the comprehensive impact on the life of society and the state. It seems that strategic planning has a close connection with forecasting. K.V. Agamirov notes that legal forecasting implements the goals of legal regulation, identifies trends and determines possible alternatives to the development of the legal system under the influence of a complex of social needs ^{[3, p. 8]}.

The very understanding of the term "strategy" can include the following semantic load:

- The strategy acts as a specific long-term plan for achieving a certain goal, strategy development should be understood as the process of finding a goal and drawing up a long-term plan.

- The strategy includes a long-term direction of development of a certain object regarding its activities and development.

According to Y.V. Govorukhina: "Strategies should form a hierarchically organized system of strategic planning documents, which establishes a complex subordination of actions of system-forming elements (strategies of lower levels, programs and projects, development plans, etc.)" ^{[4, p. 12]}. Thus, within the framework of building a strategy, it is necessary to use a large number of documents subordinate to its direction of action.

In any case, the implementation of strategies in public administration (regardless of the scope of application) leads to the achievement of certain goals and changes aimed, as a rule, at development and improvement. This situation indicates the positive role of the implementation of strategies and appropriate planning. The qualitative implementation of plans affects the assessment of the activities of the state and its bodies by citizens and society, mediates the development of civil initiatives. The importance in the development of the ideological component in the process of applying strategic planning is also noted.

The position of E.N. Nikiforova deserves attention: "The ideological basis for the formation of state policy is strategic planning, it is it that allows in practice to implement the principle of interrelation and interdependence of the tasks of ensuring national security with the dynamic socio-economic development of the state. I would like to emphasize that strategic planning is a completely different level and essentially a qualitatively new stage in the development of planning. In this regard, today we can talk about a change in the planning paradigm – planning as a management method has become strategic" ^{[5, p. 42]}.

In this light, it becomes obvious that there is an objective need to ensure the unity of the strategic planning system, which makes it possible to effectively implement the competencies assigned by the authorized bodies of state power and local self-government.

The role and importance of documents in strategic planning has been repeatedly noted in the scientific literature. Thus, according to T.A. Polyakova, D.A. Afinogenov, the problems of improving strategic planning in the interests of improving the efficiency of public administration are relevant, which requires the development of conceptual documents for the normative legal consolidation of issues (socio-economic development, national security, information sphere) ^{[6, p. 17]}.

The creation of strategic planning documents should correspond to the current changes and processes affecting society and the state. D.A. Afinogenov, E.V. Vinogradova, T.A. Polyakova note the need to develop new tools for strategic planning of the country, taking into account the introduction of the digital economy into public life ^{[7, p. 35]}.

The strategic planning documents reflect specific plans, the specifics of their implementation, authorized entities to perform the necessary actions and other fundamentally significant moments. The basic regulatory legal act in the field of strategic planning is Federal Law No. 172-FZ of 28.06.2014 "On Strategic Planning in the Russian Federation" (hereinafter – No. 172-FZ, the Law on Strategic Planning). The objectives of strategic planning comply with the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the main priorities of public administration and the system of guarantees from the state.

Analyzing the provisions of Article 11 No. 172-FZ, it is advisable to note the most important features of strategic planning documents:

- The development of strategic planning documents takes place within the framework of goal setting, forecasting, planning and programming at the federal level, at the level of subjects of the Russian Federation and at the level of municipalities.

- The coordinating role in the development and implementation of strategic planning documents is performed by the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation.

- There are strategic planning documents at the federal level (within the framework of goal-setting in general and in the sectoral, territorial perspective, forecasting, planning and programming documents), a similar approach is provided at the level of the subjects of the Russian Federation (goal-setting documents at the regional level, forecasting, planning and programming documents). Municipal strategic planning documents involve the development of a strategy for the socio-economic development of a municipality, a plan for its implementation (specific measures), the preparation of forecasts and municipal programs. The list of these documents is fixed in detail in Part 3-5 of Article 11 No. 172-FZ.

- At each of the management levels (federal, constituent entity of the Russian Federation, municipal), a list of subjects has been established that can establish the specifics of the development and implementation of strategic planning documents.

- It is allowed to involve representatives of public, scientific organizations and other entities in the development of strategic planning documents, in the absence of contradictions of a legal and ethical nature to involve in this process.

Based on the above, it should be noted the existence of a system of strategic planning documents, the features of which are predetermined by the level of management and competencies of public authorities. Common to strategic planning documents are such criteria as expediency, consistency, compliance with the order of development and approval, implementation in practice. In the strategic planning system, it is important to ensure compliance with the set goals and objectives.

It should be noted that, in addition to the above, there are sectoral strategic planning documents, the legal basis of which is based on Article 19 of the Law on Strategic Planning. The creation of such documents is aimed at the implementation of sectoral strategies and the development of certain areas of socio-economic development.

Summarizing the provisions of the Law on Strategic Planning (including Chapters 9-11), it can be noted that there are quite a variety of strategic planning documents. Among them are strategy, forecast, plan, state program, territorial planning scheme, etc. Strategic planning documents reflect the legal and economic content of the strategies being implemented.

It should be noted that the system of regulatory legal acts regulating strategic planning documents is quite extensive. Thus, the Fundamentals of State Policy in the field of strategic planning in the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 633 dated 08.11.2021, are in effect. Within the framework of this normative legal act, the goals, objectives and main directions of state policy in the field of strategic planning, implementation mechanisms are specified. It is quite important to take into account that attention is focused on the inextricable relationship and interdependence of socio-economic development and national security.

In terms of the application of strategic planning documents, various shortcomings are noted. Yu.V. Evstafyeva notes the lack of an integrated system in state strategic planning, as well as problems in ensuring the execution of approved goal-setting strategic planning documents, a well-established mechanism for such provision ^{[8, p. 8]}.

Without referring to a detailed analysis of the existing strategic planning documents, it is impossible not to note their multiplicity. This situation is caused by the formation of documents horizontally and vertically of the management. Thus, documents are being formed at the federal, regional and local levels, within the framework of subordination of public authorities. Also, larger strategic planning documents are specified in less significant ones from the point of view of legal force.

According to the data provided by A.V. Lavrentiev, in the Russian Federation today, according to the Register of Strategic Planning documents, the number of registered documents exceeds 65 thousand and often such planning organization is spontaneous ^{[9, p. 70]}.

A significant number of strategic planning documents require their systematization, which is also noted by researchers. D.A. Afinogenov, T.A. Polyakova conclude: "the conclusion is that it is necessary to develop a scientifically-based concept of a "system of strategic planning documents", as well as the methodology for the formation and optimization of this system, as the most important legal instruments and organizational and legal mechanisms of strategic planning" ^{[10, p. 22]}.

V.V. Dorzhieva, S.A. Ilyina note the shortcomings of methodological support for strategic planning and existing regulatory documents. It is considered necessary to build a system (schedule) of the procedure for the development (adjustment) of interrelated and interdependent strategic planning documents, their development periods and adjustment dates ^[11].

E.V. Eremin points out the need to improve the organizational base of strategic planning (in relation to a narrow direction – strategic planning in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia) ^{[12, p. 151]}.

Monitoring the status of the list of strategic planning documents, which are quite numerous today, is quite important. It seems that there is a lot of work to be done in this direction, aimed at streamlining and systematizing strategic planning documents.

Based on the conducted research, a number of conclusions should be drawn:

1. Strategic planning is a dynamic phenomenon that takes into account the peculiarities of the development of society and the state, trends and processes occurring at a particular time. The most general directions of development are reflected in the long-term prospects.

2. Strategic planning plays a leading role in the system of public administration. The goals and objectives set within the framework of strategic planning are reflected in the relevant documents reflecting the legal and economic content of the implemented prospects. The specifics of strategic planning documents are predetermined by the level of management and competencies of public bodies, set goals and objectives based on a comprehensive analysis of needs in various fields. This allows us to draw a conclusion about the attribution of strategic planning documents to management acts.

3. A significant problem regarding the application of strategic planning documents is their numerous nature and the lack of systematization that allows for orderly practical application and effective implementation. It seems promising: to formalize the legal framework on strategic planning issues into a single regulatory legal complex, in order to make it easier to apply such norms; to provide a system for monitoring strategic planning documents in the context of the effectiveness of their application and the results obtained.