St Petersburg State University Image Dr Alexander Sherstobitov is a candidate of political science, associate professor at the Department of Political Governance of Saint Petersburg State University. Currently he is working on the project ‘Civil and Political Engagement in Urban Governance in Russia’ which is a part of his two-year research project ‘Networking in Public Policy as a Factor of Improvement of Urban Governance’ (2014-2015). On 20th and 26th of March Dr Sherstobitov is giving two research seminars, both organised in collaboration with PIR: 'The role of social networks in political mobilization and protests in Russia' 'Coordination of parties' voting in the State Duma: case of electoral legislation change' Research Project: Civil and Political Engagement in Urban Governance in Russia Contemporary public policy domain is characterized by increased level of uncertainty, the complexity of the development and implementation of public policy. Under these conditions improvement of the quality of political governance becomes one of the central issues, both in theoretical and applied aspects. Urban governance is not the exception. Moreover, the regional and city levels of governance are characterized by the inclusion of a large number of political actors: public authorities, local governments, business institutions, nonprofit organizations, civil initiatives. For the citizens urban issues are also of the highest priority, hence search for optimal strategies of actors (citizens, authorities, entrepreneurs, civil society, political parties, experts) inclusion and improvement of the efficiency of urban public policy is needed. Thus, the relevance of the proposed study lies in the necessity of the conceptual design of the policy networks in urban governance, the study of the phenomenon of ‘publicness’ of urban policy actors and analysis of the role of network interactions in the quality of urban governance. However, in Russian practice policy network methodology is not very popular, as contemporary Russian politics shows domination of hierarchical governance structures. At the same time, at the city level one may already observe the active development of horizontal links and involvement of the different actors into the public sphere. So, in his research Dr Sherstobitov is interested in the study of European experience of public actors’ engagement. During the period of his fellowship at Edinburgh University he plans to outline the methodological basis of to study actors’ inclusion at urban level. Mainly, he would like to focus on civil engagement and political parties cooperation in the public domain. Education Ph.D. (Candidate of Science), Political Science, Saint Petersburg State University, 2010 Thesis: Communication in networked political governance (case of the telecommunications sphere in Russia). Experience Assistant (2005-2009), Senior lecturer (2009-2013), Associate professor (2013-present moment) at Department of Political Governance, Saint Petersburg State University Courses: Political Management, Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administration, Policy Networks and Development of Telecommunications Policy in Russia (English language), Project Management in Politics and Public Administration. Instructor at Saint Petersburg Branch of Council on International Educational Exchange (USA), 2010 - present time Courses: Comparative Cultural Studies: the US and Russia (Russian/English), Presidential Elections in Russia and Challenges of Democratic Transition (English). Research Projects Networking in Public Policy as a Factor of Improvement of Urban Governance, 2014-2015 (leader of research group) Public Administration and Governance in Transformation of Contemporary Public Sphere: National and Global Contexts, 2010 – present time (member of research group) Social Networks as a Factor of Political Mobilization of the Youth, 2012 – present time (member of research group) State Capacity and Development of Methodology and Monitoring of Administrative Reform in North-West of Russia, 2006-2008 (member of the research group) Presentations at International Conferences Role of NGOs in Policy Making in the Field of Information Technology in Russia // Warsaw East European Conference – 2007. Democracy vs. Authoritarianism. (15-18 July 2007) Civil society and public policy in modern Russia: hierarchic or networked decision making? // Warsaw East European Conference – 2008. Freedom and Power. (16-19 July 2008) The strategy of city development: the problem of the choice. Case of St. Petersburg // International conference "MEDIACITY - Situations, Practices and Encounters" Weimar, Germany, 18-19th January 2008 Types of political and Administration Regional Regimes and Efficiency of Administrative Reform in Russia // Warsaw East European Conference – 2009. East-Central Europe. Independence – Totalitarian Regimes – Independence. (15-18 July 2009) «New publicness» and development of coordinative political administrative regimes // 7th annual Graduate Conference in Political Science, International Relations and Public Policy in memory of Yitzhak Rabin» (Jerusalem, 14-16 December 2011) Neo-Institutional Change As the Factor for Development of Coordinative Regimes in Contemporary Russia // International Conference “Public Policy and Governance 2012” (Bangalore, India, 4-7 September, 2012) The Role of Public Values in Russian Policy Networks: Trust, Communication and Collaboration // International seminar "Public Values And Politico-Administrative Cultures: Russian And International Contexts" (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 21-22 June, 2013) Key Publications “Setevaja publichnost” kak noviy factor politicheskoj mobilizacii v sovremennoj Rossii (“Network Publicness” as a New Factor of Political Mobilization in Contemporary Russia) // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. Serija 6. 2013. Vol. 3. Modelirovanije politicheskih setej kak metod analiza publichnoj politiki (Policy Networks Modelling as Method of Public Policy Analysis) // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. Serija 6. 2012. Vol. 4. (pp. 102-109) Setevije otnoshenija kak ob’ekt politicheskogo analiza (Network Relations as an Object of Political Analysis) // Democracy and Governance. Bulletin of Comparative Politics Research Committee of Russian Political Science Association, 2012. — № 2 (12). — С. 11-17 Transformacii mehanizmov vzaimodejstvija gosudarstvennih i negosudarstvennih aktorov v processe perehoda k koordinacionnomu gosudarstvu (Transformations of State and Private Actors Interaction and Shift to Coordinative State) // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. Serija 6. 2011. Vol. 4. (pp. 97-103) Setevoje politicheskoje upravlenije kak basovaja predposilka k vovlecheniju v publichnie dela institutov grazhdanskogo obshestva I biznesa (Networked Political Governance As Basic Factor for Engagement of Business and Civil Society Institutions into Public Affairs) // Proceedings of the All-Russia Conference “Political Institutions in Contemporary World” 10–11 December 2010 г, Saint-Petersburg, Russia Kommunikativnij podhod k analizu politicheskih setej (Communicative Approach to Policy Networks Analysis) // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta. Serija 6. 2010. Vol. 1. (pp. 135-142) Gosudarstvennije i chastnije aktori v telekommunikacionnoj otrasli v Rossii: set ili ijerarchija? (State and Private Actors in Telecommunications Industry in Russia: Network or Hierarchy?) // Politicheskaya ekspertiza: POLITEX. Vol. 5, N4. (pp. 96-104) Strategii I modeli setevoi kommunikacii v sovremennom obshestve (Strategies and Models of Networked Communication in Contemporary Society) // Obshestvo znanija: ot idei k praktike. Kollektivnaya monographiya (Knowledge-Based Society: From Idea to Practice) / Edited by V.V. Vasilkova, L.A. Verbickaya. – SPb, Skifia-print, 2009. This article was published on 2024-08-13