KEY PROBLEMS OF THE REGION: METHODS FOR DETERMINING POLITICAL AGENDA
The strategic course of Russia's development adopted by the ruling elite based on the criteria of current political expediency does not have a proven economic methodology for designing federal and regional strategies. In these circumstances, the implementation of socio-economic reforms, declared by the government, should be considered, including through the prism of political processes and phenomena using the model of political and management cycle. This requirement assumes that in the analysis and scientific substantiation of regional goals and priorities, in addition to economic tools, it is necessary to use the tools of applied political analysis, which allows more accurately identifying those key socio-political problems, which are outside the field of economic science, but significantly affect the regional agenda. As an example of the implementation of this approach, the authors present the main results of the political analysis of the key problems in the Ulyanovsk Region.