The practice of interaction between civil society institutions and the authorities on the consideration of citizens' appeals in the Russian Federation

Bikov Igor' Igorevich Postgraduate student; Department of History, Political Science and Public Policy; Central Russian Institute of Management – branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation 302028, Russia, Orel region, Orel, blvd. Victory, 5 A igor_57rus@bk.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Citizens' appeals to public authorities allow them to declare their problems, count on the support of the state, and appeal against illegal actions or inaction of representatives of state bodies. In addition, citizens have the right to propose their own ways of solving public problems. Unfortunately, citizens' appeals are often considered without the participation of civil society. However, consideration of citizens' appeals by public authorities with the participation of public organizations contributes to making more effective decisions and monitoring their implementation.

The purpose of this article is to study the experience of joint consideration of citizens' appeals by public authorities and civil society institutions, identify problems and propose ways to improve the effectiveness of interaction. The hypothesis of the study is that the joint consideration of citizens' appeals by civil society institutions and public authorities makes it possible to most effectively solve the problems indicated in the appeals. The scientific novelty of the study is the generalization of the practices of joint consideration of citizens' appeals by civil society institutions and public authorities and the justification of rational mechanisms to increase the effectiveness of this activity.

The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that its results can be used to improve cooperation between civil society institutions and public authorities when considering citizens' appeals.

The theoretical significance is expressed in the identification of new aspects of the problem under study, stimulating the development of a database related to the practices of interaction between civil society and government to effectively solve citizens' problems, in the generalizations and conclusions of the author.

Object and methods of research

The object of the study is the interaction of public authorities and civil structures. The subject of the study is the practice of interaction in the process of considering citizens' appeals by public authorities and civil society institutions.

The research methods are institutional analysis, analysis of documents related to citizens' appeals and identification of reactions to them from authorities and public organizations, comparative analysis of the practice of considering appeals, logical method, generalization method, monitoring.

Results and conclusions

Joint consideration of citizens' appeals is one of the ways of interaction between public authorities and civil society. Joint consideration of appeals provides for the participation of non-profit organizations, experts and volunteers in the discussion of complaints, applications and proposals of citizens. This allows for a more objective assessment of difficult situations among citizens and contributes to making the right decisions. Such interaction makes it possible to increase the level of trust in the state.

Special commissions or working groups may be established to consider citizens' appeals, which should include representatives of State authorities and civil society. This makes it possible to attract independent experts to develop measures to solve the problems of citizens. Joint consideration of applications can facilitate the exchange of knowledge between representatives of government authorities and public organizations. Such activities have a positive impact on the development of civil society.

Joint consideration of citizens' appeals makes it possible to identify conflict situations between government officials and citizens. This makes it possible for civil society to intervene in a timely manner and solve problems arising from discrimination of citizens, corruption or abuse of office. O. V. Khomova and E. A. Shuklina highlighted the problem of writing replies by government representatives. Instead of considering the statements on the merits, some officials in their responses list normative legal acts that are not relevant to the existing issue, or draw conclusions that do not correspond to the statements ^{[1, p. 153]}. In such cases, the participation of civil society structures in the joint consideration of appeals ensures the rights and freedoms of citizens and contributes to the restoration of justice and trust in the authorities.

An example of interaction between public authorities and civil society institutions when considering citizens' appeals can be the joint work of public authorities and the all–Russian public movement "People's Front for Russia" (hereinafter - the People's Front). The tasks of the Popular Front are to promote the real participation of citizens in the development of decisions of public authorities, strengthen civil mutual assistance, public control, as well as other tasks specified in the Charter of the organization. G. G. Fastovich and V. S. Litvinova emphasize the role of the Popular Front in informing the authorities about political and social problems ^{[2, p. 87]}

During the preparation of a direct line with the President of the Russian Federation in 2023, Dmitry Peskov told reporters that for the first time the Popular Front would be involved in receiving questions. Peskov justified the participation of the Popular Front by the fact that for many years the Popular Front had been processing citizens' appeals coming to the direct line.

The Popular Front controls the consideration of citizens' appeals to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, received during the direct line on December 14, 2023. The President recommended that the Popular Front study citizens' appeals and send the results of the analysis to the Presidential Administration, the Government, federal executive authorities and regional leaders for further consideration. The volunteers of the Popular Front informed the media about their assistance to a family from the Chelyabinsk region. Marina Eduardovna and her disabled son lived in a room under a social rental agreement without heating, water and gas. In order to achieve resettlement, they turned to a direct line. Representatives of the Popular Front appealed to the prosecutor's office with a request to conduct an inspection. As a result, Marina Eduardovna was allocated a new apartment.

After the elections of the President of the Russian Federation in 2024, Vladimir Putin announced that his campaign headquarters received more than eighty thousand appeals. Most of the appeals contain proposals for further work and for the organization of activities in various areas. The trustees were instructed to summarize the received appeals. The trustees, together with the People's Front and the authorities, must accept them for execution. Vladimir Putin recalled that feedback allows you to feel the mood of society. He promised to cooperate in this area with the executive bodies of state power and deputies of the State Duma.

The Popular Front organized the project "Direct Line. Continued." Valery Fadeev, Chairman of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, expressed the opinion that due to the large number of appeals received by the President, it is necessary to involve public organizations in their consideration. Fadeev gave an example of the interaction of civil society institutions and authorities when considering appeals. Businessman Kvashin from the Stavropol Territory turned to the "Direct line" to the President of the Russian Federation. He was engaged in the supply of products to the company, but did not receive payment for the products. Thanks to the intervention of the Popular Front and the Human Rights Council, a criminal case was opened.

Anatoly Kucherena, Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, stressed the importance of cooperation between public authorities and civil society when considering citizens' appeals. In his opinion, public organizations should not only control the work of public authorities, but also participate in solving citizens' problems. Curator of the People's Front project "Direct Line. Continuation" Yulia Zimova believes that the joint work of authorities and public institutions is necessary to develop solutions to citizens' problems. She expressed gratitude to Fadeev and Kucherena for their participation in the consideration of the complex problems outlined in the appeals.

The Popular Front is also cooperating with the Investigative Committee. The head of the SU IC for the Kirov region, Andrey Vinogradov, informed about the work with citizens' appeals. In cases where the Popular Front posts information about citizens' appeals on social networks or on its website, employees of the investigative committee immediately respond to issues within their competence. All appeals are studied by the leadership of the investigative committee.

Another example of cooperation between public authorities and the institute of civil society is the joint consideration of citizens' appeals by the People's Front and the Ministry of Education. In 2023, the Direct Line with the President of the Russian Federation received more than 2,700 appeals on issues within the competence of the Ministry of Education. A number of questions were devoted to the nutrition of schoolchildren. In particular, parents complained about cold and tasteless food. After the inspections, the problems were resolved.

Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov and the head of the Popular Front Mikhail Kuznetsov agreed to cooperate in organizing free hot meals for primary school students. To do this, it was proposed to create separate coordination centers for parents in all regions of the country. Coordination centers may also be established in some municipalities. The Popular Front will analyze incoming applications, identify best practices and monitor the implementation of decisions on specific schools.

Sergey Kravtsov thanked the Popular Front for its prompt response to the parents' wishes. Mikhail Kuznetsov, a representative of the Popular Front, reported that a hotline of the Popular Front on hot meals in schools had been established. The Popular Front posts information with a phone number to which you can contact with wishes and complaints. There is also a joint operational headquarters. As part of the work of the headquarters, representatives of regional ministries gather weekly and consider the most important issues. The Popular Front monitors the execution of all decisions on complaints.

Thanks to the agreement between the Popular Front and the Ministry of Education, it became possible to involve the parent community. The Popular Front acts as an independent platform, as it provides an opportunity for parents to speak out about the problems that have arisen. Parents may not be afraid of negative consequences, since data about applicants is not transferred anywhere.

The federal laws regulating the process of reviewing citizens' appeals do not contain rules for the participation of civil society institutions in joint consideration of citizens' appeals with the authorities. This procedure is provided for in the regulatory legal acts of public authorities.

An example of such a regulatory legal act is the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation No. 988. This order approves the procedure for participation of members of public councils under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in conducting personal reception of citizens by officials of internal affairs bodies. L. V. Khanakhmedova notes that consideration of citizens' appeals is one of the main activities of public councils. The decision of the councils is advisory in nature, however, the Ministry of Internal Affairs tries to take into account their conclusions ^{[3, p. 21]}

In order for the members of the public council to participate in the consideration of citizens' appeals, the schedule of personal reception is transmitted to the chairman of the council. The schedule indicates the time and place of the reception and the surname and initials of the official conducting the reception, as well as his position. The room in which a personal reception is held is determined by the leadership of the internal affairs bodies.

No later than three days before the date of reception, the chairman of the public council informs the responsible official about the members of the council who will be present at the personal reception. Information about the fact that members of the public council will participate in a personal reception is posted in places accessible to citizens.

When making an appointment for a personal appointment, citizens are notified that members of the public council can participate in the reception. The consent of a citizen is required for the presence of members of the public council at the reception. The presence of members of the public council at a personal reception is noted in the accounting documents. A citizen certifies with his personal signature his consent or disagreement to the participation of members of the public council in a personal reception.

Members of the public council have the following rights: the right to familiarize themselves with the materials of appeals with the consent of citizens; the right to express their opinion on the issues set out in the appeals; the right to make proposals on the merits of the issues under consideration; the right, if necessary, to receive additional information and the results of consideration of appeals, to send requests to the divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its territorial bodies.

In case of personal interest, a member of the public council must refuse to participate in the consideration of the appeal, and the chairman of the public council must replace this person. If the appeal contains a state secret or the citizen is against the participation of members of the public council in the consideration of the appeal, they are not allowed to participate in the reception.

Members of the public council are prohibited from disclosing information that became known to them during a personal reception, as well as information about the personal lives of citizens, without their consent. If a member of the public council violates the rules for conducting a personal reception, the official informs the chairman of the public council about this.

The following ways can be proposed to increase the effectiveness of joint consideration of citizens' appeals by public authorities and civil society:

1. To develop normative legal acts regulating the process of interaction between authorities and civil society when considering citizens' appeals.

2. To ensure openness and transparency in the consideration of citizens' appeals. One can agree with the opinion of A. E. Lapin and N. I. Borisov that personal communication of citizens with government representatives allows to increase the authority of managers and the level of trust in authorities ^{[4, p. 113]}.

3. To develop criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of joint activities to review appeals and periodically monitor them. It is possible to use the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness proposed by L. E. Ilyicheva and V.A. Khmelev. Among the proposed criteria, it is possible to highlight the compliance of the results of consideration of appeals with the expectations of citizens, the level of satisfaction of citizens with the measures taken, the number of repeated appeals ^{[5, p. 66]}.

4. To strengthen partnerships between authorities and various institutions of civil society, to exchange information, experience and knowledge. R. A. Agishev rightly believes that public organizations engaged in solving specific types of tasks may have a wider range of knowledge than state bodies ^{[6, p. 87]}.

5. To provide the necessary financial and technological resources to representatives of civil society and authorities involved in the consideration of citizens' appeals. K. A. Novokshonov notes that a room accessible to various categories of citizens should be allocated for personal reception of citizens. The room should also be equipped with audio and video recording systems ^{[7, p. 39]}. We can agree with N. E. Vasyutkin's opinion that it is necessary to provide the opportunity for a personal reception via videoconference ^{[8, p. 84]}.

6. Organize training for representatives of government bodies and civil society who participate in the consideration of appeals to gain knowledge about current problems and ways to solve them. E. V. Zaitseva and D. A. Popov highlighted the methodological work of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation on dealing with appeals from citizens and organizations. The Department takes into account the experience of working with citizens' appeals and makes methodological recommendations ^{[9, p. 51]}. Such methodological recommendations should be used in the training of representatives of government and civil society.

7. To enhance the culture of dialogue between authorities and civil society, emphasizing the contribution of public institutions to ensuring the protection of citizens' rights and freedoms. One can agree with N. S. Menshikova's opinion that the dialogue should be based on the principles of equality of subjects, mutual trust, mutual benefit, and voluntary participation ^{[10, p. 85]}.

Conclusion

Joint consideration of citizens' appeals by public authorities and civil society institutions makes it possible to ensure a more responsible attitude to citizens' problems. Such work strengthens public confidence in the government and allows us to work out solutions to many socially significant problems.