Borshchevskiy George

№ 1, 2018

• Senior Civil Servants as Russian Political and Administrative Elite

  Abstract. The article aims to identify the peculiarities of career paths and recruitment channels of Russia’s political and administrative elite. The author studies federal ministers, their deputies, and directors of the departments of federal ministries. He innovatively employs the term “Senior Civil Servants” (SCS), which is widely used in the world, but not in Russia. The empirical basis of the study is the biographies of the senior federal bureaucrats available on official websites. The author collected biographical data on senior civil servants from all the federal ministries. The sample size is 381 people.

  The research shows that most senior civil servants in Russia are career- oriented bureaucrats and technocrats, although the share of the political appointees at the ministries is also significant. By their socio-demographic char- acteristics, SCS can be considered part of the elite: most of them were born in large cities, they are well-educated, and many of them hold academic degrees and state awards. At the same time, SCS are a heterogeneous group, which affects the activities of the corresponding ministries. Ministries headed by the career-oriented bureaucrats tend to be more successful in implementing state programs. The sectors headed by the career-oriented bureaucrats show a better dynamics of development than those headed by the political appointees.

  According to the author’s conclusion, the process of SCS recruitment in Russia is opaque and unsystematic. He thinks that the key to solving this problem lies in the creation of the Senior Civil Service as in the developed countries, the functions of which will include recruiting and evaluating senior civil servants.

  DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-88-1-82-99

  Pages: 82-99