Abstract: The subject of this research is the complex of socio-economic and political-legal relations emerging in the context of the work of the Union State authorities. The object of this research is the executive authorities of the Union State. The article demonstrates that transition towards the market relations alongside the establishment of the Union State require reforming the public administration mechanism and generating the new democratic political-legal structure that leans on the principle of separation of powers. The key priorities of state authority becomes the protection of human rights and freedoms, which in turns, requires a transition towards the new in their essence legal forms and methods of the work of executive authorities. The authors’ special contribution into this research consists in proving that the normative-legal and socio-economic base of regional administration in the Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus significantly differs in its efficiency. Depending on the scale of administrative activity of one or another region, the authors propose the ways for optimizing efficiency of the regional administration. The scientific novelty lies in the introduced by the author new and improved methods for assessing the efficiency of work of the regional authorities in the organizations of integration character.

Abstract: The subject of the study is institutional and economic relations influencing the development of competition among national innovation systems in the post-Soviet space aimed at ensuring economic security in the global world. The subject of the research is innovative systems of the Union State.  The authors claim that intensity of competition at the turn of the 21st century was conditioned by unevenness of economic and social development expressed in disparity of the development not only of separate countries but also of regions and industries through different capital accumulation rates. In this context, the formation and implementation of effective competitive strategies by international companies and states in order to ensure their high competitive status is a priority task of international policies of almost all developed countries of the world. The authors consider such aspects of the topic as competitiveness determined by the criterion of effectiveness of any economic entity. The level of NIS competitiveness also determines the world economic positions of countries.  The use of methods of theoretical analysis (induction and deduction, general-to-specific and specific-to-general analysis, theoretical comparison, comparison and generalization) along with targeted-programme method allowed to analyse the existing approaches and techniques for the study of various aspects of innovative systems integration of neighbouring countries with the aim of identifying, finalizing and developing new approaches to exploration of NIS competitiveness and development effects. Methods for empirical information procession and analysis (grouping, comparison, index, correlation and regressive analysis) allowed to obtain new reliable indicators on the development and functioning of the NIS of neighbouring countries. Scientific novelty of the research: it was shown that the forms and methods of state management in the field of scientific and technological activities are not properly regulated at the regional level. The evident trends clearly indicate that there is still no effective system of promotion of innovative activity of economic entities at the regional and state levels, and therefore there is a need in a special wide system of regulators of this process to revitalize the innovative activities.  The authors offered a mechanism for promoting the innovative activity of economic entities which should operate at all levels - from government to local authorities. The article also proposes a system of innovative activity financing from all possible sources. The concepts of competitiveness of national economy are of great practical importance for the development of programs improving national competitive advantages, as well as developing its export base at the national and regional levels over the long term. The places occupied by the regions of the Union State in the ratings of authoritative international organizations clearly demonstrate their non-competitiveness. A prerequisite for overcoming the crisis, for integration and solution of the national security problems is the development and implementation of global strategic architecture for improvement of its international competitiveness. 

Abstract: The paper considers the problem of development of trade and economic relations between the regions of Russia and Belarus in the context of the Union State formation. The authors prove that to fully implement international cooperation in the spheres of trade, industry, power engineering, and socio-cultural sphere, it is necessary to develop transregional interaction in the spheres of transport, communications and Media. The research object is transregional communications of the Union State. The research subject is socio-economic relations within transregional communications of the Union State. The authors apply the method of system analysis to estimate the geographical dispersion of cooperation in the spheres of transport and communications and reveal the necessity to diversify such interactions according to the geographical principle. Special attention is paid to the analysis of border territories of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The authors prove that within the Union State, contacts and broader cooperation between the regions are connected with the difficulties of federative and unitary state structures, and offer organizational, economic, and legal measures to solve these problems. The authors consider the improvement of cooperation in the creation of transport infrastructure and the communications system as a prerequisite to the extension of innovation potential and the increase of investment potential of Russian and Belarusian regions.