Public Administration Reform and Building of the ‘Vertical of Power’ in Russia: Exploring Incommensurability by Mikhail Zherebtsov A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2014 Mikhail Zherebtsov Abstract The dissertation explores the reform of Russian public administration that began in 2003. Although, it was considered by the ruling elite as one of the most important political projects that should establish a necessary fundament for further socio-economic modernization of the country, the reform has not yet resulted in significant improvement of governance in the country. The dissertation investigates the conceptual inconsistency of the model of reform, based on the New Public Management approach, and the nature of political process in Russia, established during the presidency of Vladimir Putin and named building the ‘vertical of power’. ii Acknowledgements The author is particularly grateful to Professor Joan DeBardeleben for her supervision and extensive help throughout of the entire research project. Also the author greatly appreciates the help and advice of Professors Andrea Chandler and Piotr Dutkiewicz in the preparation of this dissertation. iii Table of Contents Introduction: the public administration reform in the Russian Federation as the topic of academic research.................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I. Public Administration, Public Policy and Political Process in the Russian Federation: building the vertical of power……………………………………………………………………………… 49 Chapter II. Public administration and civil service in post-Soviet Russia: the need for reform…………………………………………………………………… 116 Chapter III. The Choice of Model ……………………………………………… 185 Chapter IV. Implementation of policies: public administration reform…………………………………………………………………………….. 241 Chapter V. Implementation of policies: the reform in the sphere of civil service…………………………………………………………………………….. 320 Chapter VI. New Public Management measures in the Russian reform project: successes and failures…………………………………………………………………………….. 353 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………... 435 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………… 446 Appendices……………………………………………………………………….. 486 iv List of Tables Chapter IV. p.307 Table 1. Analysis of significance of salary diversification among the three groups of federal government employees. p.314 Table 2. Russia’s position in the Global Competitiveness Index Report Survey (selective indexes) Chapter VI p.391 Table 1. Federal government’s cross-departmental statistics of state procurement in 2012. pp.401-402 Table 2. Nomenclature of goods and services procured by public administration divisions. v List of Illustrations Chapter II p.138 Figure 1. Comparison of budget expenses on the Presidential Administration and the Federal Government of Russian Federation (as a percentage of expenditures on all federal executive institution). p.162 Figure 2. Public sector to the total workforce ratio (in %) p.163 Figure 3. Percentage of the ‘government’ sector to the total workforce in Russia in 1990s Chapter III. p.194 Figure 1. Political-economic continuum of contemporary theoretical debates on public policy and administration. Chapter IV. p.298 Figure 1. Institutions of the federal government since the beginning of the reform (2004-2013) p.302 Figure 2. Volatility of institutions of the federal government since the adoption of the three-layer system of public administration in Russia (p.276) p.305 Figure 3. Federal public employees’ remuneration by type of institution. p.311 Figure 4. GRICS performance indicators. p.312 Figure 5. GRICS government efficiency index 2000-2011: Russia in comparative perspective. p.313 Figure 6. Business indicators of performance of Russia’s public administration. Chapter V p.335 Figure 1. The quality dynamic of public officials employed by the federal institutions of executive power (thousands of employees). p.337 Figure 2. Quantity of public officials at the federal, regional and municipal levels (thousands of employees). Chapter VI p.385 Figure 1. State procurement as a percentage of GDP (in real money) p.393 Figure 2. Corruption perception by business community in Russia (BEEPS Survey) p.404 Figure 3. Distribution of settled contracts according to the type of used procurement procedure in 2012. pp.418-419 Figure 4. The outsourcing matrix vi p.424 Figure 5. Efficiency of outsourcing in the Ministry of Defense p.429 Figure 6. United Nations E-governance Index Trend for the Russian Federation vii List of Appendices p. 466 Appendix I. The Media Context of the Reform of Public Administration. pp. 467-468 Appendix II. Structure of the Government of Russian Federation viii Introduction: the public administration reform in the Russian Federation as the topic of academic research The henceforth presented dissertation research considers the highly important, yet at the same time unjustly under-investigated problem of public administration reform in the Russian Federation. This has been one of the most important, yet long-awaited reforms that was undertaken in the post-Soviet period. It should not only help overcoming the administrative principles and legacies of the Soviet historical period, but also transform the system of governance in Russia in a way that would become the facilitator in the country’s further development. Regardless of high expectations that were coupled with deliberate planning, the first decade of the reform has not resulted in substantial improvement of quality of public service in Russia. The given dissertation is one of few attempts to assess the objectives, the process, and first outcomes of the reform of public administration in Russia. Contemplations on the causes of reform’s setbacks lead to a conclusion that the design of the reform contradicted to the major course of the political process in Russia that was established under the second president of Russia – Vladimir Putin. In the manifold of academic literature, related to the post-Soviet development of Russia, the topic of public administration as a particular aspect of governance studies is not among the favourites. It has been largely outnumbered by the studies of evolution of the political regime after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as problems that the country faces on its way to the democratic society. In the first decade of the 21st century academic debates refocused on the “failure” of the democratic project and re-emergence of authoritarianism in Russia, ultimately questioning the validity of the transitional 1 paradigm. Studies of functioning of public administration were largely outnumbered by the studies of changes of political regime, transformation of perceptions of democracy from the western-liberal to a sovereign-type concept, or some case-studies, though quite important, like the ‘Yukos affair’. Yet, importance of public administration reform should not be underestimated, as its functioning, evolution, performance and failures appear to be at the epicenter of political process, as well as academic debates. In everyday political life, officialdom often becomes, sometimes quite rightfully, the object of criticism not only by regular citizens, but also politicians. Many political theories, in order to accommodate the posited argument, willingly or not, reflect and refer to current trends in public governance. Studies of public policy and public administration became one of the fundamentals of the contemporary political science, finding theoretical insights and adopting technologies from many other academic fields, such as economics, sociology, psychology, organizational studies. Multiple international researches contributed to a comparative approach in public administration studies. This aspect became crucial especially in regards to the rise in prominence of the New Public Management doctrine that has become the paradigmal framework for thinking about public governance in almost all countries in the last 30 (or so) years. Yet, surprisingly, this trend has not had a great impact on the studies of political process in the post-Soviet states, and mainly Russia. The dissertation provides an overview of the political process in Russia prior and during the reform in order to assess how it affected the development of the country. 2 Situating the problem The context In order to analyze public administration reform in Russia, it is important to put it in the context of political, economic and social transformations that have occurred in the country. A few arguments shall be raised in support of the importance of the topic. First of all, the reform of public administration should be understood as the process of rethinking, as well as qualitative and quantitative rearrangement of public institutions, public functions and public cadres. If this definition is accepted, then this has been the first practical attempt to reform the Russian government after the collapse of the Soviet Union. A few attempts to modernize the state apparatus were undertaken in the 1990s, however they did not even proceed to the stage of implementation. In all cases, the lack of success of these attempts was explained by poor economic performance of the country, as well as by weakness of its democratic political institutions. It was stated that under such circumstances conducting the reform of the state apparatus