ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the Russian presidency and it's the government. It explains the importance of networks and clans. The chapter introduces the reform of the state service. The president and the government are the federal executive of the Russian Federation. The 1993 RF Constitution endorsed liberal democratic principles; a separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers; and established a mixed presidential-parliamentary republic with a dual executive consisting of a president and a prime minister. The president has extensive powers of appointment, dominates the work of government and can bypass parliament by issuing decrees. The presidential administration and the government even replicate the former division between the Party Politburo and the soviet government, the Council of Ministers. Most political leaders in democracies rise to and remain in power with the backing of a political power. In Russia these functions are performed by informal but very powerful presidential support networks, which a president is able to promote and nurture through presidential patronage.
