Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

A HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF “SERVICE” PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN RUSSIA

Svetlana Eduardovna Martynova and Vladimir Vladimirovich Kazakov

Abstract

For over 10 years, the objective of implementing a “service” model for public management has been discussed in official documents and speeches by top government officials in the Russian Federation (RF). This article aims to trace the evolution of notions of a “service” state at the official level. This will help determine the major vector for the transformation of Russian public management and compare the vector with trends in similar transformations in other countries. The goal and relevance of such a study are governed, firstly, by the fact that there are virtually no publications on Russia dealing with the “service” model in the world’s scientific literature; secondly, the fact that, compared with studies into the economic, technological, political, and psychological aspects of implementing a model for a “service” state, no statutory/regulatory analysis, much less in terms of the historical aspect, has been presented to this day. The principal research methods employed by the authors of this article are (1) analysis of scientific publications on the subject of a “service” state and (2) content-analysis of official documents and statements in the RF. It has been established that the evolution of notions of a “service” state at the official level in Russia has exhibited a non-linear and internally ambiguous character. However, the major vector for the transformation of Russian public management has evinced the same distinctive characteristics as in other countries. The difference is that a statutory/regulatory framework for the development of a “service” model in the RF that is most in line with present-day sociality in its fullest manifestation has been formed for the municipal level of governance.