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<h1>''The question of rethinking the role of federalism in modern Russia is important today''</h1>
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<span class="gmail-date"> <a href="https://realnoevremya.com/articles/archive/07.03.2018">09:00, 07.03.2018</a></span>
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<p>Artur Khaziev, a columnist for Realnoe Vremya, shares his thoughts after the meeting with Mintimer Shaimiev</p>
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<p></p><p>On March 2nd, Mintimer Shaimiev met with young
Tatar leaders in the technopark Idea in Kazan. Mr Shaimiev participated
in it not so much as state counselor but rather as agent of candidate
for president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Artur Khaziev, a
participant of the event, columnist for Realnoe Vremya, chairperson of
the Centre for strategic studies Platform XXI, tells about the issues
raised at the meeting.</p><p></p>
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<h2>''21st century is the age of competition for people''</h2><p>Since
the meeting took place the day after the president's address to the
Federal Assembly, many topics echoed the points of Vladimir Putin's
speech. Besides, the message itself in the pre-election period was not
ordinary, but, in fact, represented the current president's vision of
the main objectives and priorities in the development of the country for
the next six years.</p><p>The key point of the presidential address was
the country's achievement of outperforming development rates,
overcoming the challenges of lagging behind (primarily technological).
The message related to it was clearly outlined — talented people are the
main resource for development of modern economy, and competition for
them and creation of conditions to unlock and realize their talents is
the major task. These issues were discussed during the meeting with
Mintimer Shaimiev as well.</p><p>The 21st century is the age of
competition for people. Two factors overlap here. First, the importance
of talented specialists has increased dramatically in the modern
economy. Second, people themselves around the world have become more
mobile, they are more ready to move between cities and countries, and
distances have 'shrunk' due to increased accessibility of new modes of
transport and the development of means of communication.</p><p>This is a
serious challenge for the country as a whole as well as for Tatarstan.
In the case of our republic, the competition for people with the most
economically developed countries is added with high attractiveness of
Moscow for talented specialists. These are the realities on the labour
market and higher education — they determine the outflow of part of
specialists to the capital of the country.</p><p><img src="https://realnoevremya.com/uploads/article/76/76/7e407def91f7fd7f.jpg"></p><blockquote>''The
key point of the presidential address was the country's achievement of
outperforming development rates, overcoming the challenges of lagging
behind.'' Photo: <a href="http://kremlin.ru">kremlin.ru</a></blockquote><p>However, this does not mean
that talented people who moved from Tatarstan to Moscow or abroad, as
well as other people associated with Tatarstan (for example,
representatives and natives of regional Tatar communities), cannot be
involved in creative work for development of Tatarstan. Including and in
particular – in the work of putting forward the initiatives of state
development, improvements, amendments or updating programmes or
development strategies. The development of mechanisms for involving this
potential in the work can be one of our responses to the objective
economic situation, which leads to a significant concentration of
talented specialists, including those associated with Tatarstan, in the
capital of the country.</p><h2>How to convey the position of Tatarstan to federal expert community?</h2><p>The
second important point in the context of the president's address to the
Federal Assembly is to convey the position of the republic to the
federal expert community. Those directions of development of the country
designated by Vladimir Putin in the message, especially the transition
of the country to advancing development rates as a whole — all this is
inconceivable without qualitative elaboration of development plans of
separate areas, plans of reforming of separate spheres and so forth.</p><p>Certainly,
this can be achieved only by involving highly qualified experts and
specialists in their development. That is, expert community will be one
of the most important operators in the implementation of the new
designated development plans of the country. Under these conditions,
effective conveying of Tatarstan's positions, opinions and views
directly to the federal expert community is a task, the solution of
which will help to better reflect the republican interests in federal
development programmes.</p><p>The examples are not far to seek. Just a
few months ago, the whole region discussed a possible growth of the role
of huge agglomerations. They called theoretical 'agglomerations'
Kazan-Samara, Kazan-Ufa… Similar arguments intensified already in 2016
after the publication of the concept of Spatial Development Strategy of
the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030. The strategy, which is
still under preparation, is a new type of document that outlines the
main directions of the country's territorial development and state
policy in the field of placing the country's economic and demographic
resources in space for the medium and long term. Of course, the key
tasks in drawing up this (and of any similar scale) Strategy are set by
certain state decision makers.</p><p><img src="https://realnoevremya.com/uploads/article/18/d0/19aaa74fd09acbd1.jpg"></p><blockquote>''Can
Tatarstan be an 'experimental region' implementing necessary reforms or
development strategies in a pilot mode before scaling them to the whole
country?'' Photo: Oleg Tikhonov</blockquote><p>However, the role of the
expert community can be no less. First, the tasks themselves are set by
the decision-maker, including on the basis of consultations and expert
opinions – those very experts. Second, it is the expert team that is
engaged in transposition of the designated key tasks to a full-fledged
development strategy. The specification of directions and steps,
different accents, actual weight of different tasks — all this is
influenced by direct developers of such documents. Can the
intensification of contacts of the republic with such federal
specialists be useful? For certain. The involvement of some federal
experts in the work on the projects of regional level, participation in
relevant activities carried out by the republic (including on general
federal issues), conveying of the positions of the republic at federal
events of expert communities — the list of specific mechanisms for
solving this problem is quite extensive.</p><p>It should be noted that
it is a 'two-way road'. Certainly, the reflection of regional interests
in the country's development programmes is necessary for Tatarstan
itself. But positive effect of the opposite direction also takes place.
The maximum consideration of the interests and views of the subjects of
the federation — it is what will make federal programmes more balanced,
realistic, feasible. That is, it will improve the quality of these
programmes. Who better will fulfil this important role for the whole
country than Tatarstan through its state and non-state institutions?</p><p>The
question of rethinking the role and principles of federalism in modern
Russia is also important today. What expression can federalism have in
the context of political model formed in the country? Can the
peculiarities of the regions, including in the level of economic
development, be a driver of the development of the country as a whole?
Can Tatarstan be an 'experimental region' implementing necessary reforms
or development strategies in a pilot mode before scaling them to the
whole country? These are the questions, the answers to which it is
possible to formulate and broadcast to the federal level in co-creation
of experienced politicians, young leaders and experts.</p><p>Another
important point for effective work of the expert community in the
republic is the availability of feedback from state and municipal
authorities. That is, the question of including into work, the degree of
consideration of proposals formed in the expert community.</p><p>Of
course, the formation of various state and municipal development
programmes, strategies, etc. is a process that is influenced by many
factors. The main tasks are set directly by managers of a particular
level. There is no point in underestimating the importance of the
existing balance of interests in development or actualization of
different programmes and strategies. However, both leave considerable
space for more active involvement of expert potential — through the
consideration of additional proposals, ideas, initiatives, developed
including on the basis of the priority of long-term prospects of state
development.</p><p><img src="https://realnoevremya.com/uploads/article/90/61/2346852a78097ff1.jpg"></p><blockquote>''We
see the initiative of the young generation in the sphere of
national-cultural and educational policy, which can adapt Tatarstan to
new conditions in the sphere of preservation and development of the
Tatar language.'' Photo: Maksim Platonov</blockquote><h2>The Tatar language: new conditions, new tasks</h2><p>Recently
we have found ourselves in a new legal reality in the field of language
policy. New conditions set new tasks in the sphere of preservation and
development of the Tatar language. The issues of organizing the process
of teaching the Tatar language, Tatar-language education, improving the
quality of teaching and the attractiveness of the language are becoming
key.</p><p>In these circumstances, it seems important to pay attention
to the latest proposals in this area. At the latest event, there were
presented proposals for the development of Tatar language school. The
initiative, developed by a group of national activists and researchers,
was presented by Tabris Yarullin and Ayrat Fayzrakhmanov.</p><p>The
proposals for development of the Tatar language school have been
repeatedly presented at various venues. In fact, here we see the
initiative of the young generation in the sphere of national-cultural
and educational policy, which can adapt Tatarstan to new conditions in
the sphere of preservation and development of the Tatar language. In any
case, Tatarstan was, is and will be the centre of the Tatar world, and
its state institutions, including in the field of education, will remain
the main centres of decision-making and implementation of decisions of
all-Tatar importance.</p><p>The presidential address to the Federal
Assembly mentioned the country's multinational character and its federal
structure. The formation of state policy in these areas will remain the
most important task. For Tatarstan, it is important to designate its
views on these issues. Moreover, the role of the leaders of Tatarstan
and the Tatar people is key in both cases. Both as the leaders of the
second largest people in the country and as the leaders of the strongest
in economic and political sense region of the Russian Federation. The
ability to broadcast the new proposals from the younger generation to
the appropriate level can make it possible to solve these problems more
effectively.</p>
<div class="gmail-detailAuthors">
<span>By Artur Khaziev</span>
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<div class="gmail-reference">
<h5>Reference</h5>
<p></p><h5><br>
</h5><p>Chairperson at the Centre for strategic research Platform XXI.</p><p>The
centre for strategic studies Platform XXI — a Tatarstan think tank,
expert and research centre on the main directions of state policy with a
focus on the formation of its own initiatives and proposals.</p><a href="http://www.platformaxxi.org/">www.platformaXXI.org</a><p></p>
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<a href="https://realnoevremya.com/region/tatarstan" class="gmail-region">Tatarstan</a> </span>
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<div class="gmail-headerBlock"><h2>Related articles<span id="gmail-ctrlcopy"><br>Source : <a href="https://realnoevremya.com/articles/2250-about-federalism-the-tatar-language-and-putins-message">https://realnoevremya.com/articles/2250-about-federalism-the-tatar-language-and-putins-message</a></span></h2></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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