Public management in Russia: changes and inertia

Abstract

Public sector reforms in Russia are typically half-hearted attempts at privatization. At the same time, there are attempts to bring about bureaucratization in a Weberian sense by increasing the role of formal rules. Given the Russian tradition of disloyalty to rules, however, all attempts to establish some sort of Rechtsstaat (law and order) are likely to fail in the short run. It is essential for the government to build social capital through more public consultation and improved accountability to the public. But the development of civil society in Russia will take time. In the short term, creating new kinds of management teams could be the next best approach to solving the resource and management problems in the public sector.