Borshchevsky Georgy

№ 2, 2017

• Bureaucracy Reform as Viewed by Russian Political Leaders

  The article explores how the programs of state service reform are embedded into the Russian political discourse and to what extent the content of these programs depends on political changes in the society. On the basis of the content analysis of the Russian state leaders’ statements on the problems of state service for the 1926—2016 time period, G.Borshchevsky comes to the conclusion that the political situation exerts a relatively weak impact upon the general vector of such reforms and the proposed set of measures. Political leaders seem to care about bureaucracy problems mainly in the context of power struggle. Their statements about the faults of bureaucracy serve mainly for exposing the previous team of leaders, and their promises to reduce state apparatus, make it less costly and bring it closer to the people are an important instrument to increase their popularity in the society.

  DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2017-85-2-94-112