Abstract: The subject of this article is the comparison of the legislation of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan with regards to regulation of the establishment and activity of political parties. Multi-party system became a new phenomenon for both countries at the turn of the XXI century, and one of the tasks faced by the states consisted in its proper normative regulation. History of the countries did not provide adequate source material for the establishment of genuine multi-party system. The political parties basically functioned in the atmosphere of legal vacuum, which attached the attributes of chaos to the political life. Despite the common starting point along with the external similarity of party system in Russia and Kazakhstan, the legislation on parties has national specificity. Kazakhstan's legislation at the constitutional level enshrines the importance of parties for public life of the country. The first law on political parties was adopted in 1996, while the effective law has a different conceptual framework – it arguably became the product of evolution of the party system and corresponds with its current state. Russian legislation on political parties has a shorter history, and clearly is in a formative stage, which is testified by a number of amendments made to the corresponding federal law. However, the legislation of both Russia and Kazakhstan has a number of advantages that should be considered in further improvement of the normative legal base, which is especially relevant in a time of political transformation that affected both countries.

Abstract:  
This article examines the formats of interaction between the authorities and establishments of penal system and civil society. An important institutionalized element of civil society is the public associations, created for expression and protection of interests of their members of other citizens. Penal system, in turn, is closed for the general public, which questions the observance of rights and freedoms of a citizen within its framework. In the last decade, one of the vectors of state policy became the creation of conditions for more effective interaction of penal system and civil society, which according to legislator’s opinion will lead to humanization of the existing system. Based on the analysis of current legislation and its application, the conclusion is made on the formats of interaction between public associations and the structures of the Federal Penal Service that can be conditionally divided into organized and unorganized. Organized formats suggest work of the representatives of public association in social institutions, set by legislative acts, such as public council, public monitoring commission, supervisory board under the Federal Penal System. There is no information in the open sources regarding the implementation of unorganized forms of interaction. The author describes the ways for improvement such public activity for increasing its efficiency pertinent to protection of rights and freedoms of a citizen.