Evolution of Public Administration in the Russian Federation

Abstract

This chapter is an overview of the public administration and civil service reforms that took place in the Russian Federation after the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991. Having quality human resources and abundant natural wealth, as well as a thousand-year history and a great culture, the Russian Federation needs to improve its system of government to guarantee high living standards of its citizens and warrant its cultural and political future. The chapter identifies key qualitative characteristics of the existing system of the state and municipal administration of the Russian Federation, and it analyses the difficulties and inconsistencies of its development. It also pinpoints the challenges that the Russian Federation has been facing recently due to reduced global demand for traditional commodities, deteriorating geopolitical situation, and a shrinking working-age population. Keeping in mind the existing external and internal challenges, the author analyses key stages of government transformation, as well as its various aspects, e.g., administrative reform, civil service reform, electronic government, fiscal reform, reform of control and supervision activities. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the various subsystems of the civil service, namely, the system of the civil service administration, training of professional managers for the system of the state and municipal administration, elaboration of organisational and legal mechanisms to counter corruption in state and municipal bodies, resolution of conflicts, etc.

Appendix 12.1 Civil Service Regulations

The federal laws below play a special role in the regulation of civil service of the Russian Federation:

• 1. Federal Law № 58-FZ (27 May 2003) “On the System of Public Service of the Russian Federation”. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, this law defines the legal and organisational framework for the system of public service of the Russian Federation, including the system of administration of public service in the Russian Federation. This law captures in legislation the types of public service, organisational and legal separation of civil, military and other types of service, and establishes a regulatory framework: positions in public service (positions in federal civil service) (Article 8); registers of positions (Article 9); registers of civil servants (Article 15); legal status of federal public servants (Paragraph 4, Article 10); staffing of public service (Article 11); joining the civil service, official career in service, and retirement from service (Article 12); class ranks, diplomatic ranks, military and special ranks (Article 13); length of Public service; personal data of government servants (Article 14); management of Public Service (Article 16); personnel pool of Public Service (Article 17); financing of Public Service, and Public Service reform and development programmes (Article 18). In fact, Federal Law № 58 is basic or generic in nature. It establishes general principles and key provisions for Public Service regulation. It serves as a basis for adoption of a more detailed federal public service legislation, including laws on civil service, and laws on civil service of constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

• 2. Federal Law № 79-FZ (27 July 2004) “On Civil Service of the Russian Federation” deals with questions of civil service as one of the types of Public Service of the Russian Federation. This law reflects pressing challenges of the reform of the civil service; defines the principles of civil service and the legal status of federal civil servants, as well as of civil servants of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation; classifies service jobs of civil service and their respective qualification criteria; defines the procedure of acceptance into civil service and the order of discharge of service duty; as well as key labour practices of civil servants; establishes the mechanism for settlement of conflicts of interests in civil service, and deals with some other questions of civil service.

• 3. Other federal laws, including those that regulate funding of Public Service, e.g. fiscal and tax legislation, professional education of public servants, e.g. education legislation, laws on higher and postgraduate education, etc, as well as property relations in the system of Public Service (civil law), legal responsibility of public servants (administrative and criminal law), etc.

A key component of the regulation of relations of civil service are decrees and directions of the President of the Russian Federation. Presidential memoranda are an important source of Public Service law. To ensure implementation of federal laws, the President of the Russian Federation has issued the following decrees:

• Decree № 403 (11 August 2016) “On the Main Directions of Development of Civil Service of the Russian Federation in 2016–2018”;⁸³

• Decree № 16 (16 January 2017) “On Qualification Requirements of Government Experience or Relevant Professional Experience and of Training Background to Be Met by Candidates for Federal Civil Service”; etc.⁸⁴

Other Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation provide the legal and organisational framework for enforcement of the civil service laws and decrees of the President of the Russian Federation concerning the civil service. In fact, they are enablers of the day-to-day administration of the Civil Service. Some decrees and executive orders of the Government of the Russian Federation are embedded in federal laws. Thus, Article 61 of Chapter 13 of Federal Law № 79 “On Forming of Personnel Pool of Civil Service” provides for the adoption of statutory instruments enabling training, retraining, enhanced training, and internship of civil servants. Government order for additional professional training of federal civil servants, including its volume and structure, shall be approved by the Government of the Russian Federation and shall come into effect when the federal budget law for the year in question is approved (Paragraph 4, Article 63).

Among the most numerous statutes on the Civil Service are the statutory instruments of federal State bodies that regulate performance of duties by their personnel. On top of that, statutory instruments regulating the Civil Service include law enforcement practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and other judicial authorities.

For the regulation of the civil service of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in addition to international and federal law, an important role belongs to the statutes of such constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Developing and adopting such statutory instruments, state bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation must proceed from fundamental principles of civil service stipulated in Paragraph 2, Article 4 of Federal Law № 79, which delineates the unity of the legal and organisational framework of federal civil service and civil service of constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

The structure of civil service legislation of constituent entities of the Russian Federation normally includes provisions that are common for all constituent entities and cover the following: (1) basic definitions and sources of regulation of civil service; (2) classification of civil service positions, qualification requirements of civil servants, register of civil service positions, class rates, personal details and staffing; (3) legal status of civil servants, their basic rights, duties, incentives, responsibility, as well as their social guarantees, submission of details of civil servants’ income, property obligations and remuneration; (4) operation of the State bodies’ personnel departments, management of civil servants’ personal data; and (5) funding of civil service and its development.

Analysis of civil service laws of constituent entities of the Russian Federation shows that quite often such laws are passed in the form of hefty documents that contain provisions which overlap with provisions of federal laws. Therefore, the regulatory potential of such laws is weak. Other constituent entities of the Russian Federation prefer focusing on regulation of issues that fall within their competence (Bartsits et al. 2018).