Archive

Abstract: The article examines corporations and non-governmental organizations’ lobbying for public and private interests in the European Union. NGOs often lobby for public interests – consumer interests, environmental protection sphere interests, community interests (e.g. women's interests). Corporations prefer to lobby for private interests – industry interests, professional interests, private company interests. It often happens that they compete in lobbying for their interests, which leads to lobbying battles such as confrontation over reform of chemical industry (REACH reform). The European Union funds NGOs, and it helps them to be independent. As a part of ‘checks and balances’ system in the European decision-making process, it creates a competitive environment for lobbying. As a result, deputies of the European Parliament and representatives of the European Commission prefer to deal with NGOs; on the other hand, members of the Council of the European Union prefer to deal with corporations. In 2005, lobbying effectiveness of NGOs and corporations was assessed as equivalent. By 2009, the situation has changed: corporations raised the effectiveness of lobbying, and now they are ahead of NGOs in many areas, with the exclusion of consumer products, food and beverages. Thus, NGOs are no longer able to compete with corporations in several industries such as energy, medicine and pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords: lobbying, European Union, European Commission, European Parliament, NGO, corporation, public interest, private interest.

Abstract: The article analyzes some ideas, views and values of the outstanding Spanish historian, writer and poet of the late XVIII – early XIX centuries J.L. de Villanueva y Astengo. Living in the turn of the eras, Villanueva experienced several ideological and value «mutations» during his turbulent political career. Therefore, in the Spanish political science the definition of his ideological identity varies from «exalted» liberalism to radical traditionalism. Based on the interpretation proposed by two Spanish historians – liberal J. Herrero and traditionalist M. Menendez y Pelayo – the author distinguishes nine such «mutations», which turns into unsolvable problems for researchers of Villanueva`s political ideology and political practice. Proving Villanueva`s ideal-typical non-ideality (as the priest who retired from the Inquisition into the liberal-bourgeois revolution, but wished to remain Catholic traditionalist), the author demonstrates the complex nature of modern political ideology genesis and explains why in the XIX–XX centuries Spain the modernization runs down and faces serious difficulties.

Keywords: Spanish traditionalism, transition, ideological and value «mutation», J.L. de Villanueva.

The author analyzes innovations in the practice of construction of regional identity in Russia. The article determines that the main trend of identity politics is the instrumental opinion of identity, and the sense of identity as a resource of territorial development. This is reflected in the widespread search for regional brands and organizing competitions in order to develop new regional symbols. The author analyzes the positioning of regional features manifested in participating in the projects initiated by external actors (projects – “Seven wonders of Russia”, “Russia 10”, image events including the Olympic Games in Sochi, etc.). There are two models of identity politics – traditional and innovative. The first involves the reliance on established symbolic attributes of regional uniqueness. The second is aimed on the search for new expression of the personality, character, contemporary art and art practices. Currently, the politicization of regional identity is manifested in the use of the patriotic feelings in election campaigns (the discourse of “friend or enemy”) in order to legitimize the position of the Governor.

Keywords: regional identity, identity politics, brand, symbol.

This article deals with the possibility of studying social justice in the neoliberal political doctrine within the theoretical analysis. The research problem is theoretical and practical uncertainty of the main consensus concerning the doctrinal principles of social justice in the situa-tion of its high political relevance, as well as the multiplicity of its social contexts through the prism of the implementation of neoliberal reforms in the Russian society. Due to the ambiguity of the neoliberal doctrine, the author identifies three approaches, which allows viewing it as political phenomenon and as the category of political science. Firstly, it is neoliberalism of Keynesian type; secondly, the libertarian kind of neoliberalism; thirdly, the Washington Consensus as a model of ne-oliberalism of modern societies. The author makes emphasis on the last one. He proposes under-standing the model of Washington Consensus as a complex system with liberal theoretical and methodological roots and as a certain kind of philosophy, according to which the model of the poli-tics is constructed in the contemporary context of globalization and interdependence of existing institutions of state and society and ideological and political paradigms. At the same time, the Russian model of neoliberalism is syncretic; in particular, it is based on the principle of social justice. Historically, the issue of justice attracted serious attention of researchers from Socrates to D.S. Mill, J. Rawls, R. Dvorkin, etc. The domestic political science pays enough attention to Western theories of justice, as well as develops own theory by T.A. Alekseeva, A.A. Guseynov, S. Grigoriev, L.G. Greenberg, G.Y. Kanarsh, A.I. Novikov, V. Maltsev. Works of N.A. Vedenina, R.K. Shamileva, B.N. Kashnikov, V.S. Martyanov and others are very notable. The author concludes about the need to define fundamental concept of social justice in the current political situation in Russia based on the convergence of its basic understanding in conservative and liberal political trends. Modern political “reading” and the implementation of the principles of social justice in Rus-sia seems to be contradictory and inconsistent.

Keywords: neoliberalism, political doctrine, discourse analysis, social justice, neo-conservatism, “welfare” state.

The article substantiates the author’s conclusion that the introduction of criminal liability of legal entities is a forecast tendency of the development of the Russian criminal law policy, and exposes objective grounds for introducing such a liability. The author points out that criminal responsibility of legal entities is established in many countries and required by international obligations of the Russian Federation. The article contains data on making legal entities of the Russian Federation accountable for administrative offence – illegal gratuity on behalf of a legal entity (Article 19.28 of the Code of Administrative Offences) and formulates reasons pointing out the insufficiency of the existing institution of legal personality’ administrative liability for actions of that type. The author indicates the necessity of conducting scholarly research on the determination of specificity of criminal procedure activity on making legal entities criminally responsible, as well as on the elaboration of foundation and conditions for carrying out operational investigation activity in respect of legal entities.

Keywords: tendencies in development of criminal law anti-corruption policy; criminal and administrative liability of legal entities; operational investigation activity; special investigative techniques; international cooperation; anti-corruption convention; international obligations regarding introduction of legal entities’ criminal liability.

The article summarizes world experience on exercising the ombudsman’ conception towards social relations with the involvement of entrepreneurs. The author analyses legal status of business ombudsmen (using the example of USA and Australia), taxpayers' ombudsmen (using the example of Georgia, Canada, USA and Pakistan), and procurement ombudsmen (using the example of Canada). The main tendencies of legal regulation of these ombudsmen’ status are determined, and the perspectives of their development are defined. The article specifies peculiarities of commissioners for entrepreneurs’ rights protection in Russia in comparison with world legal regulation of similar ombudsman schemes. Based on the research, the author concludes that these commissioners gets the features of law-enforcement state body instead of being the alternative dispute resolution scheme. Despite positive evaluation of commissioners’ practical activity, it is important to strengthen so-called “social component” of their legal status and to optimize their sphere of competence and power.

Keywords: business ombudsman, commissioner for entrepreneurs’ rights protection, alternative dispute resolution, taxpayers' ombudsmen, procurement ombudsmen.

The article focuses on theoretical issues of the substance of mechanisms of im-plementation and defense of human rights in the Russian Federation. The author describes features, forms and structure of both mechanisms. Implementation of the human rights is considered as a form of juridical behavior of authorized persons with the aim to satisfy the human need in the legal order. The author demonstrates that legal relations are the basic element of implementation mechanism. Moreover, the constitutional human rights are the basis for the structure of both mechanisms. The article describes various forms of implementation and defense of rights. The author consecutively distinguishes between “mechanism of the implementation of human rights” and “mechanism of the defense of human rights”, although in some cases several similar futures are pointed out. The author concludes that the protection of rights mechanism is unique one, in which legal regulation, protection of rights, procedural and other mechanisms are integrated.

Keywords: human rights defense, implementation of human rights, forms of defense, implementation mechanism of human rights, defense mechanism of human rights.

The article considers transformation of the concept of national law in works of German thinkers in the period of Great French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. According to the author, the main line of this transformation is the completion of socialization of philosophy of law, as well as the claim of the empiric methodology of research and positivist understanding of law. In this context, the consistent dissociation of law from ethics, as well as distinguishing of national right as socially independent in law, is fundamentally important. The development of general teaching on the nation as leading direction of social philosophy in concrete historical conditions and political-philosophical character of these teaching is also highly valuable. The author points out that German thinkers of this period offered the successive typology of social-legal phenomena: socially individual (national-state law) – socially special (sphere of cooperation of national law orders, “cosmopolitan law”) – socially general (international law). The essential characteristic of this typology is non-transcendent, immanent character of socially special and general, as well as their formation based on cooperation of positive law orders. It allowed to complete pluralistic (by its nature) legal picture of the world, and social and positive model of the sphere of law as relatively autonomous subsystem of human being. The author also considers that empiricism of the new vision of the sphere of law founds its expression in comparativism. Based on the analysis, the author concludes that German thinkers of late XVIII – early of XIX century completed theoretical and methodological foundation of modern jurisprudence.

Keywords: history of legal science, empiricism, positivism, comparativism, classic German philosophy, social philosophy, social law, national law, typology of law, legal cooperation.