Options for Applying Functional Overlapping Competing Jurisdictions (FOCJs) for Municipal Cooperation in Russia

Abstract

Municipal cooperation is important for transformation countries, like Russia, which have to develop legal, institutional and political environments for public service activities. The authors recommend FOCJs as an instrument for coordinated municipal public service provision. To determine the suitability of FOCJs the analyst has to investigate the relation between FOCJ theory, their financing possibilities, the fiscal effects, and the legal forms in which FOCJs can operate in Russia. The authors define several forms of FOCJs and sort out appropriate public enterprises of private and public law for Russian FOCJ. To analyse the establishment, the operations, and the competition between FOCJs the authors present three types of models. One relates to the establishment of an FOCJ, the second concentrates on financing service activities, and the third model deals with competition among FOCJs and demonstrates the effects of different ways of finance. The article concludes with elaborating recommendations for financing FOCJ under conditions in Russia.