ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description of the public administration system in post-Soviet Russia, focusing on the political and social aspects of its evolution. Russian administrative culture inherited many traits from the Soviet state, which was in many ways a continuation of Imperial Russia. Equity, social responsibility, and accountability were never seen as basic principles of the Russian administration. Privatization was to bring the institution of private property back to the Russian economy and society. It aimed to create: an economic system, which could be self-regulated on a market basis; and a new social strata, which could provide political support for democratization. The spread of political corruption became an inevitable consequence of such a strategy and should be seen as a major social and institutional determinant as well as a model for other forms of corruption activities in post-Soviet Russia. The institutional framework of corruption in Russia rests on clientelistic structures deeply rooted in the post-Soviet society.
