Sociological diagnostics as a tool for overcoming the problems of the reformed Department of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation

Objective of the study is to consider the possibilities of sociological diagnostics in solution of the current problems of the reformed Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) of the Russian Federation, using the example of the Krasnodar Territory; to identify problematic aspects and prospects for integrating quantitative and qualitative sociological diagnostics into the management system of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Methodological basis of the study consists of: at the general theoretical level – the conceptual provisions of neo-institutionalism, which made it possible to describe the dysfunctions of reformed DIA in the coordinate system of the institutional trap, as well as the riskological paradigm, which made it possible to present the activities of reformed DIA in the system of internal and external risks for modern Russian society; at the empirical level – the methodology of positivism (M. Shlik et al.), describing the strengths and the weaknesses of the quantitative paradigm, as well as the methodology of phenomenology and ethnomethodology (A. Shchyuts, G. Garfinkel et al.), which reveal the advantages and disadvantages of the qualitative paradigm.   Results of the study. Based on the analysis of theoretical and empirical information, the author provides an assessment of the main problems of the reformed Department of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and verifies theoretical information through quantitative and qualitative empirical projects, involving police officers and representatives of the management staff of the Department of Internal Affairs (based on the materials of the Krasnodar Territory). The strategy of methodically oriented sociological research has been implemented in order to form the conceptual provisions of sociological diagnostics for its future integration into the DIA management system. The analysis of the materials of the Krasnodar Territory confirms the existence of an institutional trap in relation to the Department of Internal Affairs and the dysfunctionality of the managerial bureaucracy as the main factor slowing down the reform. The obtained empirical results need to be tested on the all-Russian sample.   Prospects of the study. At the general theoretical level, the prospects relate to the expansion of searching for solutions of the main problem: the bureaucratic dysfunction of the management system and its blocking of objective information about the work of DIA, existing problems, etc. At the empirical level, there is a need for a nationwide representative study in order to verify the information received in the Krasnodar Territory. At the implementation level, the prospects relate to searching the ways to integrate sociological diagnostics into the management system and describing possible difficulties of this process.