ABSTRACT
Business has always been coded ambivalently in Russia. On the one hand, foreign merchants, especially from Germany, were admired because of their efficient work; on the other hand, they were criticized for not paying attention to the important values in life. The market reforms of the 1990s fell short of the ultimate goal of remodeling Russia into a liberal market economy where the state would only set the framework for economic activity. The inevitable non-compliance with legal regulations, however, is part of the intention, for it makes it possible to wield the law as an instrument of maintaining state power. While aiming at improving efficiency, the public administration reform of 2004 did not manage to address the more pressing problem of informal practices in the civil service that vitiate most attempts at introducing new procedures. The Bolshevik Revolution was successful not because Russia yearned for communism, but because it was tired of the monarchy.
