Slizovsky D.E., Zogranyan Е.V., Medvedev N.P. Review on the article "On the Problem of Institutionalization of Political Parties" by T.A. Vasilyeva, D.D. Prokopchuk, R.A. Gritsenko

REVIEW

on the article "On the problem of institutionalization of political parties" by T.A. Vasilyeva, D.D. Prokopchuk, R.A. Gritsenko

Reviewers:

D.E. Slizovsky Doctor of Sciences (history), Professor, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia

Е.V. Zogranyan post-graduate student of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Service, Ukraine

N.P. Medvedev Doctor of Sciences (political sciences), Professor, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia

For more than two hundred years, attempts have been made by the best political and humanistic minds to develop and approve an integrated system for the institutionalization of political parties as organizations of collective actions aimed at achieving specific goals of social groups, individual party members or the entire parties. But to this day, this topic remains relevant in theoretical and practical sense . Not without a reason the relevance of the problem of institutionalization of political parties and the party system in our country can be supported by the statement by V. Zorkin, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation: "As the world political experience shows, in organizational terms, the real democracy is most effectively secured by a two-party (two-bloc) system that allows to form the political will of the main socio-political forces of the elites and of the masses. The competition between these forces within the paradigm of "the ruling majority and the parliamentary opposition" prevents the political system from stagnation and decay, allows "political ventilation of the lungs" in the state body, and ensures not only "the ability to hear," but the "audibility" of the masses by those in power" . The urgency of the topic can be proved by the search for updated methodological grounds expanding the content of the problems of the institutionalization of political parties as cultural, civilizational and historical realities with still unclear meanings that are successfully or defeatingly used by the subjects of the politics, considered to be "darlings of history" .

Since the bourgeois era, political parties have not been regarded as homogeneous subjects of the political process. Moreover, for a long time the public consciousness of the most developed part of humanity was dominated by the idea of interpreting the political party as a tool of struggle for power. And the proletariat, for example, had no other tool, except its organizations. It was in the Euro-Atlantic intellectual environment that the view was born and developed that the ideological unification of the most exploited part of the local society on the relevant principles is fixed by the material unity of the organization. The twentieth century has already demonstrated a change in the ideological, theoretical and practical views and practices both on the role of political parties and on the mechanisms of their institutionalization not only at the level of ideas, ideological, stylistic, cultural and mental levels, but also at the level of constitutional and legislative procedures. The "Golden era" of the mid-twentieth century, when political parties finally took root in political systems, and even states became party states, was replaced by the fall of the social influence of the parties and by the growth of the anti-party associations and movements. It is still premature to say that political parties will lose their place and purpose in political and public life even in the long term. The renewal of parties, the consolidation of their traditional and modern roles, responding to the challenges of politics, economy and social arrangement should be apparently considered through the prism of continuous improvement of the system, mechanisms, procedures and norms of institutionalization.

There is no doubt that the ability of political parties to express and defend the will, sentiments and expectations of the part of society they serve, or of a new and effective policy in comparison with the current and promoted ruling and governmental party, will require serious theoretical reflection and practical study of the existing realities. Unfortunately, we must admit that in the research community, there is no single theory of institutionalization in political parties. And there is little concrete research of this process. Against this background, the article by researchers from the Far Eastern Federal University "On the problem of institutionalization of political parties» is a rare positive example for the last several years.

The article is based on the ideas of mainstreaming the problems of institutionalization of political parties considered in the belief that such topic is of particular importance for the development and functioning of modern institutions of representative democracy. The research plan focuses the attention of both researchers and consumers of this intellectual product on the obtaining by the parties of the official status and on securing it in the political system along two channels. The first one is through political institutionalization; the second - through the constitutional and legal registration of the status and role of the party in the structure of social, political and state structure.

The passionate desire of researchers to dramatize the process of institutionalization (which is a long and controversial process), through which all legally operating or ready for such activities political parties will necessarily pass, does not add much to the theoretical or applied developments. More convincing for the same theory and practice is the prediction and justification by the authors of the article of the thesis about the trends demonstrating expansion of indicators of institutionalization in the dynamic processes of social and political life. Therefore, in our opinion, this study is of a research character.

The author's position in relation to the topic under consideration can be regarded as an institutional position. It is based on the recognition of the role of the institutional mechanisms in such senses as the development of the organization according to certain laws, immanent for such structures. It would be justified if the authors of the article confirm the ideas of S. Huntington, used by them, in full or clarify them, perhaps, correct their essential elements, citing facts and examples demonstrating that political parties can acquire stability through institutionalization.

Turning to the material on legislative institutionalization, the authors of the article give a detailed list of elements of the party status regulated by legal acts. The most interesting and noteworthy is not only the list of legislative regulation circulating in the scientific turnover. We hope that the proposals of the authors of the article on the procedure of registration and financing, as the main aspects of the activities of the parties, will become subjects of future discussions. Just as the proposed justifications why such aspects (registration and financing procedures) are necessary and essential for the legislative regulation and institutionalization in general.

Proportionally large volume of the article occupies the material and analysis of what relates to the problem of the subject of the research with the involvement of developments by the American scientist K. Jand.

The research group considered it justified to give a detailed model proposed by the above researcher regarding the basic parameters of the life of a political party and its status as a political institution. Of course, the seven basic elements of the structuring and institutionalization of political parties and their specific content develop modern ideas about the parties, their nature and specificity of their activities, especially the institutionalization of this activity in relation to the new realities. But how justified is the inclusion in the small article of the material and provisions that have already been widely discussed and became common knowledge for a wide group of scientists not only abroad, but also in Russia? Our claims to the authors are not removed by their reservation that the methodology proposed by K. Jand "does not claim to be a complete coverage of the problem, but expands the possibilities of research and understanding of the features of the process of party institutionalization." And so, this is why the authors of the article cite it is such details.

In our opinion, it would be acceptable and worthy to add and develop the Jand’s ideas. Possible versions and directions of development of this problem can be described in the following terms:

– the degree of materialization of their foundations through the institutionalization can be achieved by the political parties under equal or even similar conditions. Not only the party's non-participation in national elections as a criterion of its non-institutionality is questioned. The complex of conditions for the functioning of the political parties forms different reactions on their part. That is, political parties react differently in most situations of internal and external immersion. This is a general rule, as their reactions depend on the institutional arrangements in which the political parties operate.

More and more researchers are working on this topic in a broad conceptual framework and in a system of rules. With this approach, the qualitative characteristics of the party are associated, for example, with the formalization of the statutes and organizational codes. At the same time, the activities of the parties are affected by informal parameters of institutionalization: agreements, traditions and customs. More generally, it is a cognitive and normative framework that usually penetrates party programs or discussions on specific policy areas. Researchers in such cases should proceed not only from such assumptions, but also complement them;

– political parties should not be seen as homogeneous entities. They are collective organisms, kind of institutionalized arenas with their specific internal structures. On the party platform, there are processes that are crucial not only for the party itself and its members, but also for its sympathizers and supporters; and for party competitors and opponents. Impulses from within and from the environment are common for political parties. The political party should be considered, first of all, as an organization. And the organization is an institutional form of collective action to achieve specific goals of individual members and of the party as a whole. Party goals should not be confused with the goals of its individual members. The party as an organization is institutionalized in a structure in which: coordinated actions of its members on the borders distinguish it from other actors in the political process, define and develop the style and nature of actions of the individual members of the party or its groups.

In 2015, Czech researchers Martin Polacek, Velem Novoatny and Michelle Porottino wrote that "political parties in Europe are in a privileged position in policy making.” But even they were surprised by the fact that, with the privileged position of political parties, neither the parties themselves nor the researchers have sufficiently studied the relationship between politics and the ability of the parties to generate political expertise. In this regard, they tried to create theoretical foundation of relations between the theory of political parties and the theory of public policy. In their research, they relied on the theory of the cartel parties of Richard Katz and Peter Mayer, the integrated theory of party goals and changes of Robert Harmel and Kenneth Jand (K. Jand is popular not only in Russia). These theories gave rise to the idea about political parties as organizations with an internal structure and with specific objectives in the struggle of actors and groups pursuing certain goals, as well as specific ways parties react to external challenges.

The empirical results by R. Katz and P. Mayer are worthy of attention for researchers of the institutionalization of political parties. They show that the role of party organizations has evolved from the role of a bridge between the civil society and the state to the role of an agent of the state. This evolution has influenced both their internal mechanisms of dispensation and their activities. The concept of a political party as a complex organizational structure may not be so much symbolic and purposeful for future researchers of the problems of the institutionalization of political parties. Such complexity can manifest itself in three parallel basic forms: a) grass-root party, based on the voluntary membership; b) the central apparatus of the party as a bureaucratic structure; C) and the party in the state apparatus exercising political power by controlling elected positions. And the party's policy then is a consequence of the relationship between such structures.

We believe that the development of the topic of institutionalization of political parties can be served not only by the recognition of many theories of this problem, but the addition and development of the existing theories. As an example here can serve an integrated theory of the parties by the already mentioned R. Harmel and K. Jand, who explained not only the ideas described by the authors of this article, but the organizational changes in the parties depending on the goals of the party itself or the goals of its structures. Organizational theory and the theory of the objectives of the parties consider the parties as complex organizations. In such a complex body as a political party, individual actors and coalitions struggle for dominance, using various resources. According to such theories, domination over the party is based on the control of the coalition or faction over such resources. American researchers , developing such theories, suggest the theory of political parties, in which the key actors are interested groups and activists. In such parties, coalitions of groups develop a common agenda and select candidates for party nominations based on their loyalty to the designated agenda. The authors of such studies believe that the theory they proposed contrasts the currently dominant theories, according to which parties are controlled by politicians who are set up only for elections. In this system of logical statements, correlated and representing to varying degrees of dependence the philosophy of modern and postmodern, the study of this problem should, presumably, continue.

Concluding the review, let's say: a) the theory used by researchers is used at two levels: at the normative, legal level and at the level of political concepts and categories. Probably on the order of appearance of some of the meta-cognition and analysis, is able to combine these approaches and propose a new one, not like modernism, and even. Apparently, the next step is the emergence of a meta-system of knowledge and analysis that can combine these approaches and offer a new system, unlike modernism and even postmodernism. The latter system comes from the fact that everything should be destroyed and reformatted. The meta-system of knowledge and analysis, on the contrary, should be based on the renewal of realities without destroying the past, present and future in the evolution of political parties. Such a system describes the realities of life on the basis of a new language and a new conceptual apparatus; b) so far, neither we nor our colleagues are willing to introduce new terminology to expand the knowledge and understanding of this problem. But we insinuate that there is a need for it. In the current situation only one approach has been implemented. This is the approach in accordance with which the authors of the article were able to formulate their conceptual framework in the language of existing theories and using the methodological apparatus of the well-known experts.

Political parties continue to play a key role in democracies. What role researchers assign to political parties in authoritarian political regimes remains to be seen. It is reasonable that the message that was used earlier in relation to politics and political parties seems to lose its importance. Researchers from the regions of the Far East better than anyone else can expand not only the geography of the search, but also update the theoretical and practical developments on the given topic, referring to the countries and political parties of the Pacific region.

Not only in developed democracies, but, of course, in democracies in particular, the current situation provides parties with a privileged institutional status, the right of parties to nominate both elected and appointed representatives to the government and public administration. This situation has created for the parties the best position against other segments of the civil society. This status and this leading role is ensured by the fact that political parties shape public policy not only during the development and evaluation of the agenda, but also at the stages of policy development, decision-making and its implementation. It was not always so. But then, theoretically, we can assume that this will not always be the case. And the topic of institutionalization for political parties and political parties for a variety of political systems and regimes will not run out, causing justified interest.

TODOROVA R.V. Energy Safety of the European Union

R.V. TODOROVA Post-graduate student at the Chair of political analysis and management, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), Moscow, Russia

ENERGY SAFETY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The article analyzes the terms "energy safety" and "energy policy" of the European Union. Like all global issues and the issue of energy safety cannot be regarded separately, but only as part of complex, often contradictory relationships between states. Most European countries are heavily dependent on the supply of fuel and energy raw materials. Although all member states of the European Union have transferred some of their sovereignty in some areas to the European institutions, energy policy is an area that remains largely within the competence of their own state institutions.

Key words: energy safety, energy policy, energy, European Union, international relations, state, economy.

The term "energy safety" became especially topical more than 30 years ago as a consequence of the world oil crisis. It was first used by Winston Churchill on the eve of the Second World War, when he made a historic decision to diversify fuel sources for the British fleet, adding oil to coal. Thus, the issue of energy safety has become a matter of national security from the very beginning. Of course, Churchill gave an answer to another question, he stressed that the reliability and security of oil supplies depend on the diversification of sources and suppliers. Ever since the Second World War when Churchill made his decision and up till now the concept of "energy safety" has been constantly changing its content, but it has always contained rules and regulations formulated then .

The problem of energy security should be considered as a part of the complex, often contradictory relationship between states, which has an impact on their positions on the international scenе .

One of the definitions of the "energy safety" is the ability to provide energy in response to consumer demand at a price that keeps the economy growing. The fact that all economic activities require energy resources makes energy security an important element of the energy policy of national governments.

According to another definition, energy security is the ability to maintain continuity of supply at times of excess demand or disruption of energy flows to meet future demand by combining own energy resources, reliable supplies and transit from other countries.

Such traditional areas of threats as constantly growing fuel and energy supply, energy demand and consumption, geopolitical paradigms and market conditions are the basis of many discussions related to the finding of the best option for the national economy, which provides the necessary energy for its normal functioning.

However, since 1970, the paradigm of "energy safety" has completely changed, expanding both the scope of its constituent elements and the list of risks and threats that today are very different from those that have existed for more than 48 years. In this regard, the resolution of such problems today seems more difficult and complex. Consequently, an attempt should be made to formulate a definition of the concept of "energy security." In our opinion, energy security is a set of interrelated factors that influence each other, such as: security and diversification of supplies; security of infrastructure; economic growth; prices of fuel and energy raw materials; access to new sources of raw materials; investment regime; security of income; danger of war and terrorism; energy sector as a geopolitical weapon; environment and social policy.

The above definition is an attempt to reconcile the views of different actors involved in the resolution of this problem.

First, consumers and representatives of the energy economy are concerned about the possibility of cessation of energy supply and sharp change in prices.

Second, countries, major oil producers, are more interested in the safety of profits, which depends on the increase in the "black gold" exploration.

Third, for the oil and gas companies, the development of new fields and ability to build new infrastructure, as well as a reliable investment regime are at the heart of their understanding of "energy security".

Fourth, the developing countries are concerned about their ability to pay for the supply of fuel and energy vital for the growth of their economies. They are concerned about any changes in their balance of payments.

Fifth, electricity producers fear that the grids are poorly connected.

Sixth, policymakers, on their part, are focused on the risks threatening supply and infrastructure security that may be disrupted as a result of terrorism, war or natural disasters. They are also concerned about such parameters of energy security that are expressed by the amount of unused potential energy capacity, strategic reserves and underdeveloped energy infrastructure.

Prices for fuel and energy raw materials, together with the availability of diversified sources of energy are important components of the "energy safety" that have an impact on the lives of the common man. A sudden increase in prices (combined with the lack of a sufficiently reliable alternative) leads, as a rule, to the risk of social cataclysms in any country.

The Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) of 1958 does not provide for common energy policy regulations. Only after the establishment of the internal market and its concomitant liberalization process, interest in the field of energy policy has gained importance. The EU energy policy ceased being connected to the economic and security policies and through the domestic market has become firmly linked to the policy in the fields of transport, competition and environment. After the ratification of the Amsterdam Treaty of 1999, energy policy was included in the vector of activities of the EU (article 3). After the ratification of the Treaty, the European Parliament became involved in the resolution of the problems of the domestic market legislation through the procedure of joint decision-making .

The discussion of the European domestic energy markets (electricity and natural gas) opened a new stage in the energy policy of the European Union. It is crucial to create a single internal market that would bring some harmony to the different structures of the European energy market and ensure for the customers who consume different types of energy a free choice of energy supplier, at the same time stimulating production of energy, protecting the environment (renewable energy sources, energy – heat connection) and ensuring safety of nuclear centers. This would create new framework conditions for the EU, which increasingly compete with classic energy policy over the last decades between the EU member states and which allow participation in the market, subject to rapid liberalization, located in the center of interest in the field of energy policy.

Since then and to this day, coordination between the EU member states is becoming stronger and stronger, the number of discussions is increasing and all of it is aimed at finding approaches and ways to the resolution of the energy policy problems. The following strategic documents of the European Commission (EC) are examples of such efforts:

– White Paper: An Energy Policy for the European Union (1995) on the future of renewable energy ;

– White Paper on the energy-heat relationship (1997) ;

– Green paper: Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply (2000) ;

– Green paper: A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy (2006) ;

– Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the European Council on the new European neighborhood policy, entitled "Energy Policy Development for the Enlarged European Union, its Neighbors and Partner Countries" ;

– Communication from the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament entitled "Black Sea cooperation – a new initiative of regional cooperation" (СОМ(2007)0160) ;

– Joint document of the Commission and the Secretary – General/High Representative for the EC entitled An External Policy to Serve Europe’s Energy Interests, presented at the European Council from 15 to 16 June 2006 ;

– Communication from the Commission to the European Council of October 12, 2006 entitled External Energy Relations – from Principles to Action (СОМ(2006)0590) ;

– Communication from the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament entitled An Energy Policy for Europe (СОМ(2007)0001) ;

– Communication from the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament entitled Strengthening the European Neighboring Policy (СОМ(2006)0726) ;

– Europe 2020: A European Strategy of Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth ;

– Regular annual reports on the EU energy policy.

The Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe indicates that energy is a divided sphere between member states. Although all member states of the European Union have transferred some of their sovereignty in some areas to European institutions, energy policy is an area that remains largely within the competence of their own state institutions. Member states themselves and not the EU institutions continue to take decisions on the conclusion of long-term agreements on the purchase of oil or gas, on the development or improvement of energy infrastructure, on the commissioning or refusal of a certain fuel; on the development of alternative fuels and technologies.

However, the European Commission retains some influence on energy policy, which it implements using its powers to apply the principles of free competition in the internal market of the European Union, environmental protection policy and consumer protection policy. Contrary to the established practice of member states to make energy-related decisions without consulting each other or taking into account the impact of their own decisions on other countries, many experts consider such practice as the main obstacle in determining common goals and practices in the energy policy of the European Union.

For example, the development of a common policy proved to be a particularly difficult task in the implementation of the reform of the gas and electricity market and in external (for the EU) relations with countries producing energy resources. These questions have sparked a heated debate in the European Union about whether organizations should be empowered to develop and implement a common European approach to energy policy. The draft Constitution for the EU provides for "shared" competences in the field of energy policy. It means that if the EU's supranational institutions cannot implement this policy on their own, they could have a greater impact on a wider range of issues related to energy decision-making.

Most European countries are heavily dependent on fuel and energy supplies and are acutely aware of all the factors that could increase the price or could slow down or disrupt the delivery schedule. The revival of interest in energy security in Europe is caused by both internal and external factors. The continuous increase in the price of fuel and energy raw materials, the declining energy production within the EU and the fragmented domestic market raise concerns about Europe's ability to meet its energy needs in the future. The rapid pace of economic development of China and India, leading to additional demand for fuel and energy raw materials on a global scale, political instability in many regions where fuel and energy raw materials are extracted and terrorist attacks on energy infrastructure pose a major question to Europe about how the EU should resist these external influences that may prevent it from meeting its energy needs in the future.

To date, 80% of the energy consumed by EU member states consists of oil, natural gas and coal.

The EU provides approximately 50% of its energy needs through the imports. According to forecasts, this figure will reach 70% in 2030.

Energy is supplied to Europe mainly from Russia and the Middle East, where about 70% of the world's oil and natural gas reserves are located.

The Middle East has been shaken by wars, terrorism and fragile political regimes. Oil production in Iraq has still not reached the level it was before the war, there are fears that terrorist groups may blow up oil pipelines and sabotage the operation of energy facilities throughout the region. Iran threatens to stop oil production for Europe if it is forced to abandon its nuclear program. Many experts believe that in recent years, there is a duality in Russia’s behavior, on the one hand, it leads a policy of reliability and on the other – exerts pressure on consumers of Russian natural gas and oil.

The great demand for energy on a global scale has also caused a lot of questions related to the amount of oil and gas today and in the future. According to the International Energy Agency, in the next 30 years it will be necessary to make about 16 trillion dollars of investments to meet the demand for fuel and energy raw materials on a global scale.

All this has forced the EU to start planning its energy future more seriously and to define energy policy as one of its main priorities.

Forecasts indicate that energy demand in the EU will be growing annually by 0.7% over the next 20 years. Oil and gas will remain the dominant sources of energy, while the share of gas in the market will continue to increase. This is mainly due to the shift that took place in the energy sectors of the economies of the countries, when the use of nuclear energy and coal switched to the use of natural gas. It is expected that by 2030 oil will account for 34% of energy consumption, and natural gas will reach 27% .

The growing dependence of the EU on energy supplies, and especially on natural gas supplies from Russia, raises serious questions regarding the long-term supply security; the need to diversify the sources of supply and the need for the EU to develop both a comprehensive common domestic energy policy and an external energy strategy on relations with Russia and other regions from which the EU can be supplied by energy in the future.

In recent years, European institutions have been investing more and more efforts in the development of normative documents related to this problem. The fundamental document that defines the political goals of Europe until 2020 "Europe 2020: a Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth" is of primary importance. The text of the document sets out five ways to develop the European economy after the global financial crisis. In the energy sector, the main goal of Europe by 2020 is sustainable growth, which means the formation of an ecological and competitive economy in which raw materials are used effectively. The same document sets out the measures that Europe should take. Basically, they are distributed along three directions. The first direction is the sphere of competitiveness and the need of the EU to maintain leadership in the field of environmental technology and efficient consumption of resources. The second direction is measures against climate change, the need to significantly reduce the greenhouse effect and increase the share of clean and efficient energy. The third direction is related to the need to reduce the share of imported fuel and energy raw materials and increase the share of renewable energy sources to improve energy efficiency.

The above goals and recommended actions are set out in Europe 2020: a Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth. The text indicates the main objectives of the CES: security of supply, competitive and sustainable development, as specified in the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. This document once again recalls the goals adopted by the European Council in 2007 and 2020, the so-called 20/20/20. This is a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 20%; an increase in the share of renewable energy sources to 20% and an improvement in energy efficiency by 20% until 2020. To achieve these goals, the EU has identified five priority areas: 1) achieving energy efficiency in Europe; 2) creating an integrated European energy market for the free movement of energy; 3) achieving safe and affordable energy; 4) expanding European leadership in energy technology; and 5) strengthening international partnership in the energy context.

Thus, in view of Europe's energy needs and the improvement of the environment at the global level, the establishment of the CES is a sensible decision that takes appropriate measures to address the different challenges facing the EU. Considering the actions of the CES, based on the analysis of the materials of the fundamental documents, we can conclude that, on the one hand, the objectives of the CES, such as competitiveness, security of supply and sustainable development, exist in a constant balance, in connection with the needs, resources and characteristics of the European energy sector. However, on the other hand, these goals are in a constant conflict with each other, limiting the effectiveness of measures taken in the context of energy and the environment. As an example, we can consider the link between energy efficiency measures and the increase in the share of renewable energy sources. The goal of energy efficiency is to reduce energy consumption. This represents a reduction in energy demand in the energy markets, which can hypothetically be seen as a reduced incentive to invest in new generating capacity, keeping in mind lower demand.

Summing up, we believe that the development of European energy policy will be a long-term challenge. Normative document "Europe 2020: Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth" will give an impulse and will become an action plan to the European Council and the European Parliament. It will be used to assess the progress, to identify new challenges and will provide answers to all of the individual aspects of energy policy.

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