Priority national projects as a tool of social, economic and political modernization of old industrial regions of the south of Russia

Introduction. In the current political process in Russia, national projects occupy an important place, working as one of the main tools for the achievement of national goals. The projects are usually made more specific at the regional level of administration and include the strategic goal of regional development, the amount of resources allocated for their achievement, as well as the responsibility of the officials for their use. The article examines the impact of implementing national projects of the “first wave” (from 2006-2010 to 2018) and the first results of the projects of the “second wave” (designed for 2019-2024) on solving the problems of effectiveness growth of public administration of the balanced development of old industrial regions of Southern Russia - Volgograd and Rostov regions. The problems of this study are justified by the expansion of using program-targeted methods in the organizational environment of regional management, what implies the need to assess the compliance of the results achieved during the implementation of projects with the goals of state regional policy. Methodology and methods. The research methodology is based on the provisions of the concept of sustainable development, as well as the system paradigm of G.B. Kleiner devoted to the need for the interconnected development of the object, environment and control subsystems. In the study of the effectiveness of national projects and their impact on the balanced development of old industrial regions of the South of Russia, the effective approach and the comparative analysis method were used. Analysis. The study shows that the degree of involvement of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in implementing program activities of national projects is determined by the volumes of regional budgets, as well as the priorities facing a region. From the standpoint of sustainability and balance of regional development, there is a disagreement in the processes of modernization changes in the subsystems of the object, environment and management, what leads to the underutilization of the resource potential of the regions in the achievement of national goals. Results. The priorities of goal setting in Volgograd and Rostov regions in the implementation of national projects are studied. The feedbacks of the regional system to the measures mentioned in national projects, as well as limiting factors for the achievement of their objectives are identified. The idea of the coordinated development of the object, environment and management subsystems of a region for the effectiveness growth of public administration of the balanced regional development is substantiated. It is concluded that the administration and management of modern national projects is not so much a managerial task but rather a political one, and therefore their implementation implies the solution of such political goals as carefulness in setting goals and choosing priorities, building effective mechanisms of the interaction between federal and regional authorities, and also with local target population.