Russian Journal of Economics and Law
ISSN (print): 2782-2923
Media registration certificate: ПИ № ФС77-81556 от 27.07.2021
Founder
Private Educational Institution of Higher Education Kazan Innovative University named after V.G. Timiryasov
Editor-in-Chief
Kleyner G. B., Member of Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Sc., Professor
Frequency / Access
4 issues per year / Open
Included in
Higher Attestation Commission List, RISC
Current Issue
Vol 19, No 2 (2025)
ECONOMIC THEORY
Main problems of reforming the Russian higher education system: regulations and the view of the professional community
Abstract
Objective: to identify the features of the current institutional environment of the higher education system in Russia; in particular, to determine the level of trust both in society and within the education system, as well as the existing level of information asymmetry regarding upcoming changes due to the exit from the Bologna system and the main actors’ expectations from the ongoing reform. It is necessary to identify the existing narratives in the professional environment in order to promote the upcoming introduction of new formal norms and reduce the likelihood of incentives for opportunistic behavior, which is possible if “internal relations are not in accordance with external ones”.Methods: when solving the research problem, the methods of narrative analysis and discourse analysis were mainly used, as well as in-depth interviews with university professors.Results: the research revealed that Russia faces a low level of trust in society, fluctuations in which correlate with ongoing changes in the economic and social spheres. Another feature is a low level of awareness among the population and direct actors of the higher education system about upcoming changes. The interviews showed a cautious attitude of the teaching staff towards any changes (including current ones), which, in their opinion, may lead to an increased bureaucratization rather than to solving the existing problems, such as low funding of education and science and high workload of professors. The author also noted students’ behavioral patterns, such as low involvement in extracurricular activities at university, a relatively low opinion about the prestige of academic profession, and intergenerational differences affecting the incentives for higher education.Scientific novelty: the author substantiates the importance of analyzing and monitoring the existing level of trust among actors in the higher education system in order to increase the effectiveness of its reform.Practical significance: the provisions and conclusions can be used in the future to study the impact of ongoing reforms on the higher education system.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):239-256
239-256
REGIONAL AND BRANCH ECONOMICS
Impact of industrial symbiosis concepts on the formation of regulatory framework for economic activity: Russian and foreign experience
Abstract
Objective: to establish the correlation between the industrial symbiosis concepts and the formation of a regulatory framework for economic activity.Methods: the features of the formation of the industrial symbiosis concept and its implementation in economic activity were identified with a set of historical methods. The comparative-legal method has widely used, which is expressed in comparing and understanding the reflection of the analyzed concept in foreign legislation and doctrine. The study of normative-legal acts was carried out using the formal-legal method.Results: by the example of industrial symbiosis, the author investigated the peculiarities of the industrial ecology categories reflected in legal regulation. The author states the need to legal adaptation of economic concepts before their consolidation in acts of positive law. The article shows the history of the industrial ecology ideas as a doctrine that substantiates the similarities in the biological and socio-economic systems development. The approaches to the definition of industrial symbiosis as a basic concept of industrial ecology are summarized. The author demonstrated the use of symbiotic approaches for effective organization of production by the example of states with different economic, political and legal systems. An eco-industrial park is showed as the main legal form allowing the application of industrial symbiosis approaches. Within the international regulatory system, the author identifies the most significant documents, devoted to using these approaches in national economic systems. Russian legislation was analyzed separately to consolidate the industrial ecology categories. The unsystematic nature of such consolidation is stated, despite the existence of a general concept of an ecotechnopark in by-laws.Scientific novelty: Russian science lacks comprehensive studies of the impact of the industrial symbiosis concept on the regulation development. This paper substantiates the need for detailed consolidation of the industrial symbiosis concept and its main features in legislation. The author draws attention to the importance of interdisciplinary research on ways to legally consolidate economic approaches in regulations, and emphasizes the significant potential of symbiotic approaches to ensure regional development. Recommendations on possible ways to improve the international legal regulation of eco-industrial parks are given.Practical significance: the proposed suggestions and conclusions can be used to improve Russian legislation and its application.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):257-272
257-272
Clarifying the concepts of bankruptcy, non-creditworthiness and insolvency of legal entities in the context of sanctions and import substitution
Abstract
Objective: to propose a new vision of the terms “bankrupt”, “bankruptcy”, “bankruptcy of legal entities”, “non-creditworthiness” and “insolvency”, corresponding to the current situation of counteracting sanctions and developing import substitution in the Russian economy.Methods: abstract-logical, comparative law studies, interpretation of law, theoretical-legal modeling.Results: the concepts of “bankrupt”, “bankruptcy” and “insolvency” were summarized and critically evaluated. The author compared stages of bankruptcy and exit from insolvency of legal entities in Russia with the essence of the “insolvency” and “bankruptcy” concepts. The key features of the neoclassical, Keynesian, and institutional approaches were compared with bankruptcy legislation in the Russian Federation. As a result, the refined concepts of “bankrupt”, “bankruptcy”, “bankruptcy of legal entities”, “non-creditworthiness” and “insolvency” were proposed.Scientific novelty: the originality of the proposed concepts of “bankrupt”, “bankruptcy” and “bankruptcy of legal entities” within the framework of the neoclassical approach consists in defining a new boundary of the bankruptcy completion. The novelty of the Keynesian approach consists in the proposal to take into account the state interests by introducing a bankruptcy moratorium for companies that are particularly important to the state. Under the institutional approach, it is proposed to take into account the interests of society in addition to the state interests.Practical significance: the proposed concepts cover a wide range of possible development of bankruptcy institutions: procreditor, pro-government, social, and compromise approaches. All of them will help reduce the number of bankruptcies in Russia. At the same time, the legislator, taking into account the specifics of their application, can choose the option that best suits the future development of the Russian state.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):273-311
273-311
CRIMINAL-LEGAL SCIENCES
Non-absolute right to the secrecy of digital messages, or the European system of reliable identification of a person
Abstract
Objective: to confirm or refute the hypothesis that the requirements, introduced in Germany and Great Britain, for the mandatory use of mass interception of messages (data) by providers (telecommunication operators), combined with big data analysis technologies, constitute a new stage in the development of European predictive policing, conducted in a close to real time regime, and serve as the basis for reliable Internet users’ identification systems.Methods: the article uses the universal dialectical method of cognition, as well as general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling, comparison) and specific scientific research methods (formal legal method).Results: the author comes to the conclusion that the identification model being created in European countries is designed to solve the problem of false user data. In most countries, there is no requirement for Internet users to register under a valid first name, last name and patronymic, if it is provided for by national custom. Having analyzed the legislation of these countries, the author concludes that they are aimed at creating a European system that will allow identifying Internet users with high reliability, in a mode as close to real time as possible.Scientific novelty: based on a study of the legislations of Great Britain and Germany regulating the mass interception of messages and judicial practice of their application, the article describes the emerging European system of user identification on the web, which is aimed at creating a system of legalized identification of a person on the Internet. It is proved that the right to communication secrecy is actually considered as a relative human right that can be violated to ensure the state security against existing threats.Practical significance: the research will help scientists, practitioners and students to better understand the trends in European legislation and the risks posed by the new European system of network user identification based on the analysis of their digital footprints.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):312-327
312-327
Criminal anthropology of mariticide in Russia. Foreword to the article by P.N. Tarnovskaya “Female criminality in connection with early marriages”
Abstract
Objective: to provide a general overview of the content of P.N. Tarnovskaya’s article “Female criminality in connection with early marriages”, to determine its place in its author’s heritage and its scientific value for modern criminology.Methods: the general scientific method of dialectical cognition, comparison, as well as the formal logical method (deduction, induction, definition and division of concepts).Results: having analyzed the content of P.N. Tarnovskaya’s article, the author determined its significance as the initial stage of forming her anthropological concept in the study of female murderers. The author specified the sections of P.N. Tarnovskaya’s monograph “Women-murderers” (1902), which use the results of the research described in the article under study. The author refuted the opinion, previously prevailing in Russian criminology, that anthropological research by P.N. Tarnovskaya was supposed to use biological means to prevent crime. On the contrary, in this work Tarnovskaya recommended changing the social environment to curb female criminality (mariticide), namely, abandoning the widespread early marriages of adolescent women before the end of puberty.Scientific novelty: for the first time, the author gives a criminological assessment of P.N. Tarnovskaya’s article “Female criminality in connection with early marriages” and indicates its links with her subsequent works.Practical significance: the results obtained make it possible to change the perception of research by P.N. Tarnovskaya’s as one of the founders of world criminological science. In her concept of crime prevention, the impact on general social factors on female criminality was considered fundamental for the prevention of women’s deviant behavior.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):328-344
328-344
TRANSLATED ARTICLES
Toward national regulation of legal technology: a path forward for access to justice
Abstract
Objective: to study legal technologies as a tool for transforming the legal services market and improving access to justice.Methods: the article uses general dialectical method of cognition, as well as general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction) and specific scientific (formal-legal) research methods.Results: legal technology can help close the access-to-justice gap by increasing efficiency, democratizing access to information, and helping consumers solve their own legal problems or connecting them with lawyers who can. However, without proper design, technology can also consolidate power, automate bias, and magnify inequality. The state-by-state regulation of legal services has not adapted to the emerging technology-driven landscape that is continually being reshaped by artificial intelligence-driven tools like ChatGPT. Confusion abounds concerning whether use of these technologies amounts to unauthorized practice of law, leads to discrimination, adequately protects client data, violates the duty of technological competence, or requires prohibited cross-industry business structures. Despite widespread calls for regulatory reforms that respond to these uncertainties, few jurisdictions have acted, as little data exists about the use, benefits, and harms of rapidly emerging legal technologies.Scientific novelty: This article argues that, in light of these problems, regulatory reform processes should be explored at the national level, where expertise, as well as empirical benefits and economic advantages, would yield more informed and impactful reforms aimed at balancing consumer protection and access to justice. The article provides a comprehensive proposal for an opt-in national legal services “sandbox” – a regulatory reform mechanism that carefully tests innovative services through temporary safe harbors and data generation that leads to more informed regulatory decision-making. Although legal services are traditionally regulated at the state level, other industries have benefited from licensing individuals locally while regulating the technologies they use nationally, and state bars already rely on national entities to help with other regulatory functions, like drafting rules of professional conduct. Legal technology’s potential to help close the justice gap – a national crisis – warrants a similar national response.Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific, pedagogical and law enforcement activities when considering the issues related to legal technologies.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):345-389
345-389
Sentencing Disparities in US Terrorism Prosecutions, 2001–2018
Abstract
Objective: to research the common and distinctive features when sentencing in the prosecution of terrorism in the United States in 2001–2018.Methods: the article uses general dialectical method of cognition, as well as general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction) and specific scientific (formal-legal) research methods.Results: Few studies have examined racial or other disparities in terrorism sentences. Unlike previous research, this study incorporates all types of terrorism, several severity levels, and both state and federal cases. Using a database including all US terrorism cases between 2001 and 2018 (n = 825), the authors test for sentencing disparities based on race/ethnicity, gender, citizenship, state/federal court, and type of terrorism.Scientific novelty: The results show some evidence for disparities, with foreign nationals and White supremacists receiving longer sentences and foreign non-jihadi terrorists receiving shorter sentences. The research found limited evidence for racial disparities, including longer sentences for minority defendants within some severity levels. The “liberation hypothesis” predicting greater disparities for less-serious crimes was mainly unsupported. Whether prosecution occurred in state or federal court had little effect, suggesting that states are well equipped to prosecute terrorists. Compared to jiliadi defendants, anti-government defendants received larger “discounts” between initial allegations and charges of conviction, dramatically affecting sentence length.Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific, pedagogical and law enforcement activities when considering the issues related to criminal liability for terrorism.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):390-419
390-419
INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTICLES
“Multi-storey law”: subjectivity of liability for corruption
Abstract
Objective: to identify objective and subjective factors of legal inequality in counteracting corruption.Methods: the article uses the universal dialectical method of cognition, as well as general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction) and specific scientific methods (comparative legal, historical, specific sociological, formal legal, systematic methods, questioning).Results: the philosophical-legal methodology of corruption research is quite productive. Fundamental research in the field of law allow differentiating between objective and subjective factors of corruption. The parameters of the legal culture development in society are an objective factor of the invulnerability of top-level corruption. The subjective factor is that the government agencies miss the anti-corruption potential characteristic of this stage of cultural development. The author offers a gradation of corruption by levels: grassroots, middle and higher level. Top-level corruption is proved to be the most latent and untouchable for criminal legal impact. The conducted research allowed formulating the main directions of anti-corruption practice: consistent elimination of the estate law rudiments and modeling of socio-legal mechanisms to fully realize the potential of this stage of ascent to law in counteracting corruption. The article presents the results of a public poll on the impunity of high-ranking officials involved in corruption. The anti-corruption strategies of foreign countries (China, Singapore, etc.) were studied as a comparative legal research.Scientific novelty: the work reveals the mechanism of stability of the estate law rudiments, which includes the following elements: a) the highest authorities ensure corruption impunity for a group of like-minded people, associates, executors of the supreme will; b) the elite is introduced into law-abiding behavior and deprived of corruption prospects. It was found that the effectiveness of anti-corruption practices depends on the possibility to overcome the boundaries established by estate law against destruction of its rudiments.Practical significance: the proposals and conclusions of the research can be used to improve criminal legislation and its application, as well as to form a scientific basis for interdisciplinary research on anti-corruption policy and practice.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):420-432
420-432
DISCUSSIONS
Civilizational-value approach in strategic planning
Abstract
Objective: the article explores the possibility and prospects of applying a civilizational-value approach in strategic planning, which is new and unconventional for this field of knowledge. The authors set out to show how taking into account cultural, historical and spiritual values can increase the effectiveness of managerial impact on developing and ensuring Russia’s national security.Methods: historical and philosophical methods, systematization and extrapolation of modern problems, the natural-scientific method of interdisciplinary analysis, the method of axiology. These approaches made it possible to comprehensively consider the role of civilizational-value factors in strategic planning.Results: based on the key role of strategic planning in ensuring national security, the authors attempted to apply these foundations to strategic planning, bearing in mind the main goal – to increase the effectiveness of its management impact on development and security. To this end, the article discusses the role and place of the civilizational-value approach in strategic planning.Scientific novelty: for the first time, the authors substantiated the need to integrate civilizational-value factors into the strategic planning paradigm in Russia. New concepts such as “cumulative national power” and “humanitarian and technological revolution” were proposed, which expand the theoretical basis of the economic phenomenon under study.Practical significance: the research sets a fundamentally new approach for further studies on the civilizational-value approach to strategic planning aimed at ensuring security, strengthening national identity and sovereignty of Russia. This approach will turn strategic planning into a real political tool aimed at shaping Russia’s future image based on adaptability to threats and challenges, innovation and resource flexibility, as well as sovereignty in choosing forms and methods for solving critical managerial tasks.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):433-447
433-447
Providing digital security of healthcare system with criminal-legal means
Abstract
Objective: to develop a comprehensive system of ethical principles for the formation of a regulatory framework and the practical implementation of digital bioprinting technologies in clinical practice.Methods: the research is based on the application of general scientific methods of scientific cognition (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, systematic approach), as well as private scientific methods of scientific cognition, including the logical and legal method.Results: the ethical and legal issues of 3D (three-dimensional) bioprinting as a developing field of high-tech medical care have not yet been widely discussed among specialists dealing with bioethics issues. The field of 3D bioprinting includes not only advanced technologies for printing human tissues and organs, but also raises a whole range of interdisciplinary scientific issues. The digital transformation of the healthcare system will inevitably entail an improvement in the regulatory regulation of bioprinting technologies, however, given the certain stability of the law, this will take a significant amount of time.Scientific novelty: a system of ethical principles has been developed that can form the basis of the law-making process of this digital technology and its practical implementation in clinical medicine. The ethical principles outlined by us in a systematic form can serve as the basis for the development and implementation of domestic legal regulation of bioprinting technologies. Based on the formulated ethical principles, it is possible to consider specific measures to improve domestic legislation and, in general, prevent potential negative consequences resulting from their application, which will allow technology to develop and will not be considered as an attempt by the state to establish control over it.Practical significance: the research results, including theoretical provisions, practical recommendations and conclusions, can be effectively used to form a legal environment for bioprinting technologies, develop scientific research at the intersection of medicine, digital technologies and fundamental science, and improve the regulatory framework in the field of high-tech medical care.
Russian Journal of Economics and Law. 2025;19(2):448-463
448-463