The politics of public administration in the Russian Federation

Abstract

This book chapter discusses the political role of public administration in the Russian Federation. It starts by providing an overview of the Russian national administration and its formal role in the Russian political system. It introduces the concept of 'power vertical' that has characterized the Russian political and administrative systems in the last two decades. Then, the book chapter examines to what extent Western administrative principles such as the Weberian model of rational bureaucracy or the politics-administration dichotomy are applicable in the institutional context of Russia's elective autocracy. It is argued that the relationship between administration and politics is best described as a symbiotic power-sharing relationship among a ruling coalition of elected and appointed officials, bureaucrats, and managers of state-owned enterprises. Hence, boundaries between the political and administrative spheres are blurred: the political sphere has become bureaucratized and the bureaucracy had turned into an influential political actor. In conclusion, the consequences for effectiveness of public administration and the needs for reforms are discussed.