Development of Territorial Self-Government in Russia Based on Crowdfunding Network Interaction between Business Structures and Local Self-Government Bodies

The crisis caused by Covid-19 is very dangerous for the social and economic stability of the regions of the Russian Federation. There is a deterioration in the dynamics of the budget deficit of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in 2020. The Government of the Russian Federation is planning to provide non-targeted financial support to the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, while maintaining the existing approaches to the distribution of subsidies for equalization, to mitigate it. The long-term dependence of the majority of the country’s regions on Federal budget subsidies and the implemented policy of artificial financial equalization of the regions can give rise to dependent moods in weak regions and deprive them of an incentive to develop strong regions. In the context of budget deficits at the regional and especially at the local levels, the search for additional sources of funding to solve the tasks that are socially significant for the territories becomes particularly urgent. The most effective way to finance municipal projects is to combine the funds of citizens, businesses, local and regional budgets. Regions should find alternative sources of financing for their projects, including through “people’s financing” and the activation of the territorial self-government development based on the crowdfunding mechanism and its use in building an effective network of interaction between business structures and local self-government bodies. The article solves the following problems: the dynamics, problems and prospects of development in Russia of such instruments of “people’s financing” as initiative budgeting and self-taxation are analyzed. The current scheme of self-taxation of citizens in the country was developed with a list of its shortcomings in implementation. Examples of implemented crowd projects for the development of territories of the Russian Federation, primarily in the field of public initiatives, are considered. A crowdsourcing platform, which has allowed to influence the process of territorial self-government in Russia since 2018, was identified and described. The scheme of network interaction between business structures and local governments based on crowdfunding IT platforms is proposed. Methodological recommendations for the implementation of this scheme are given. The use of the crowdfunding mechanism in the territorial self-government of regions can help to solve the tasks set out in a number of state programs of the Russian Federation.