Administrative and civil service reforms in Russia: Recent trends at the time of turbulence

Public Administration Issues. 2023. No. 6. P. 44–61.

Alexey Barabashev, Klimenko A.

The article examines the changes in governance that have taken place in Russia since 2019, with a particular focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (which persisted until early 2022) and the ongoing military operation in Ukraine (which began in February 2022). The article discusses the specific characteristics of the reform efforts during these two distinct phases.

Among the reforms of governance in Russia in this period of time, two central interrelated reforms, the reform of the civil service, and administrative reform are analyzed. The agenda of changes and their main directions have been studied for each of the reforms. It is argued that the main focus of the reforms is on the change of planning, the formation of integrated services, the digitalization of public service and services, the change in the regulatory climate, the "top-down" evaluation of the effectiveness of the apparatus, the development of flexible schemes of initiative budgeting. There is a change also in the orientation of education in the field of public administration.

The transition from COVID -19 to the sanctions sanction period of the reforms is characterized primarily by changes in the motivation of the apparatus, an emphasis on the security of managerial decision-making and the protection of electronic communications, a predominant increase in wages for the military and law enforcement services, a smooth departure from the stages of the Bologna education system levels (master Master's and bachelor Bachelor's degrees).

Keywords: administrative reform, civil service reform, COVID-19 Russian governance changes, Russian governance re-shaping under sanctions, Russian governance recent trends