Introduction: Putting administrative reform in a broader context of power

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics

Volumn 24, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 1-16

  Oleinik, Anton ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 39349116043     PISSN: 13523279     EISSN: 17439116     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13523270701840415     Document Type: Editorial

References (47)

1. A detailed outline of the 'small' society can be found in Anton Oleinik, Organized Crime, Prison and Post-Soviet Societies (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003). In contrast to the first two elements of the constitution of real socialism, the centrally planned economy and the single party political system, there is no sustainable agreement among scholars concerning the conceptual description of its third element. However, compared with the concept of a 'closed' society or a totalitarian society, that of the 'small' society not only refers to a particular model of the state but also implies a specific type of power and dominance which, as will be shown below, is especially relevant to the present research.
2. Wladimir Andreff, La crise des économies socialistes: La rupture d'un système (Grenoble: Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1993), p.11.
3. Douglass C. North, 'Institutions', Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol 5, No.1 (Winter 1991), p.97.
4. Wladimir Andreff, La mutation des ećonomies postsocialistes: Une analyse économique alternative (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2003), pp.15-21.
5. Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (New York: The Modern Library, 1934 [1899]), p.191.
6. Max Weber, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretative Sociology (New York: Bedminster Press, 1968 [1922]), p.34.
7. 'Postanova Presidii Verkhovnoi Rady Ukrainy vid 16.10.1995 Pro prodovzhennia stroku pidgotovky proektu Kontseptsii administrativnoi reformy' (Resolution of the Presidium of the Parliament of Ukraine from 16.10.1995 on Preparing the Project of a Programme of Administrative Reform)
8. 'Ukaz Prezidenta Ukrainy vid 7.7.1997 No.620/97 Pro derzhavny komisiyu z provedenniya v Ukraini administrativnoi reformy' (Decree of the President of Ukraine from 7.7.1997 on the State Commission Responsible for Carrying out Administrative Reform)
9. 'Ukaz Prezidenta Ukrainy vid 14.4.2000 No.599/2000 Pro Strategiyu reformuvannia sistemy derzhavnoi sluzhby v Ukraini' (Decree of the President of Ukraine from 14.4.2000 on the Strategy for Reforming the State Service in Ukraine).
10. 'Poruchenie Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii ot 15.8.2001 O razrabotke Programmy reformirovaniya gosudarstvennoi sluzhby' (Order of the President of the Russian Federation from 15.8.2001 concerning the Preparation of a Programme for Reforming the State Service)
11. 'Ukaz Prezidenta Possiiskoi Federatsii ot 19.11.2002 No.1336 O federal'noi programme 'Reformirovanie gosudarstvennoi sluzhby Rossiiskoi Federatsii (2003-2005)' (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation from 19.11.2002 on the Federal Programme for Reforming the State Service of the Russian Federation (2003-2005))
12. 'Ukaz Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii ot 23.7.2003 No.824 O merakh po provedeniyu administrativnoi reformy v 2003-2004 godakh' (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation from 23.7.2003 on Means of Carrying out Administrative Reform in 2003-2004)
13. 'Rasporyazhenie pravitel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii ot 25.10.2005 No.1789-p O kontseptsii administrativnoi reformy v Rossiiskoi Federatsii v 2006-2008 godakh' (Directive of the government of the Russian Federation from 25.10.2005 on the programme of administrative reform in the Russian Federation in 2006-2008).
14. Weber, Economy and Society, p.988.
15. 'Rasporyazhenie pravitel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii ot 25.10.2005 No.1789-p', Annex.
16. Daniel Kaufmann, Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi, 'Governance Matters V: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators for 1996-2005', working paper (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2006).
17. Natalia Panina, za redaktsiyeyu, Ukrains'ke suspil'stvo 1994-2004: sotsiologichnyi monitoring (Ukrainian Society in 1994-2004: Sociological Monitoring) (Kiev: Zapovit, 2004), p.20; I am indebted to Dr Natalia Pohorila for this source.
18. Alexander Gerschenkron, 'Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective', in Mark Granovetter and Richard Swedberg (eds.), The Sociology of Economic Life (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992), p.122.
19. Since 1997 experts of the World Bank have prepared a number of programmes and documents directly related to the issues of administrative reform; some of them have subsequently transformed into decrees and laws: See Tsentr doslidzhen' administratyvnoi reformy, Administratyvna reforma v Ukraini: Zagal'ni zasady administratyvnoi reformy (Administrative Reform in Ukraine: General Principles) (Kiev: Natsional'na Akademiya Derzhavnogo Upravlinnya, 2001), Part 1.
20. Karl W. Ryavec, Russian Bureaucracy: Power and Pathology (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), p.37.
21. Bertrand Badie, The Imported State: The Westernization of the Political Order (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000), p.97.
22. Steven Lukes, Power: A Radical View (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005 [1974]).
23. Weber, Economy and Society, p.53.
24. Viktor Makarenko, Russkaya vlast' (Russian Power) (Rostov-on-Don: Izdatel'stvo SKNTsVSh, 1998), p.60.
25. This law, a key element of neo-classical economics, states that for any good or service, the marginal utility of that good or service decreases as the quantity of the good increases, ceteris paribus. In other words, total utility increases more and more slowly as the quantity consumed increases.
26. Dennis Wrong, Power: Its Forms, Bases and Uses (New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1980), p.25.
27. Thomas Wartenberg, The Forms of Power: From Domination to Transformation (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1990).
28. David Beetham, The Legitimation of Power (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, 1991), pp.16-20.
29. James Coleman, Foundations of Social Theory (Cambridge, MA and London: Belknap Press, 1990), p.152.
30. Lukes, Power, p.30
31. see also Herbert Simon, 'Notes on the Observation and Measurement of Political Power', Journal of Politics, Vol.15, No.4 (1953), p.503.
32. These techniques are discussed in greater detail in Valeri Ledyaev, 'Domination, Power and Authority in Russia: Basic Characteristics and Forms', and Anton Oleinik, 'Existing and Potential Constraints Limiting State Servants' Opportunism: The Russian Case', both in this collection.
33. Makarenko, Russkaya vlast', p.99.
34. Beetham, The Legitimation of Power, p.28.
35. For an overview see Vyacheslav Dement'ev, 'Problema vlasti i ekonomicheskii analiz' (The Problem of Power and Economic Analysis), in Rustem Nureev (ed.), Postsovetskii institutsionalizm: Vlast' i biznes (Rostov-on-Don: Nauka, 2006), pp.77-98.
36. Thorstein Veblen, Imperial Germany and Industrial Revolution (New York: Viking, 1939 [1915]), p.161
37. see also Yuri Pivovarov, Russkaya politicheskaya traditsiya i sovremennost' (The Russian Political Tradition and the Modern Situation) (Moscow: INION RAN, 2006), p.17.
38. Ryavec, Russian Bureaucracy, p.53.
39. Wartenberg, The Forms of Power, p.24.
40. Pierre Hegy, 'Words of Power: The Power of Words', Theory and Society Vol.1 (1974), pp.329-39; Wrong, Power, p.10.
41. Anton Oleinik, 'A Distrustful Economy: An Inquiry into Foundations of the Russian Market', Journal of Economic Issues, Vol.XXXIX, No.1 (2005), pp.63-4
42. see also Valeri Ledyaev, Power: A Conceptual Analysis (Commack, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 1997), p.95.
43. Igor' Kim and Yelena Osetrova (eds.), Vlast' v russkoi yazykovoi i etnicheskoi kartine mira (Power in the Russian Linguistic and Ethnic World-View) (Moskva: Znak, 2004), pp.95-109.
44. The use of nouns to describe qualities deserves special emphasis taking into consideration the recently coined concept of 'sovereign democracy' (see Vladislav Surkov, 'Natsionalizatsiya budushchego: Paragrafy pro suverennuyu demokratiyu' (Nationalization of the Future: Paragraphs on Sovereign Democracy), Ekspert, 2006, No.43, available at, http://www.expert.ru/printissues/expert/2006/43/ nacionalizaciya_buduschego., accessed 15 Oct. 2007. The adjective 'sovereign' has a 'twin' noun, in both Russian and English. The quality expressed by such a noun-adjective might overshadow its subject, namely the Russian people who can seemingly express their will through democracy.
45. SSHRC awarded an International Opportunity Fund - Development Grant (file No.861-2005- 0001)
46. Memorial University and CERES contributed to covering the organizational expenses and the costs of publishing of a book in Russian (by ROSSPEN - Russian Political Encyclopedia). All contributions are deeply appreciated.
47. . Technical expertise and assistance in developing the website by Allan Farrell, Arts Computing Centre, Faculty of Arts, Memorial University, is greatly appreciated.