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An examination of the reform of Russia's civil service in the post-communist era notes that changes immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union were the result of broader developments rather than purposeful reform. There was neither a purge of civil servants whose loyalties were suspect nor any attempt at retraining. Thousands of civil servants resigned in the early 1990s to seek more lucrative employment in the private sector. Characteristics of the reconfigured bureaucracy are described, along with the failure of attempts to reform state service in the mid-1990s; Boris Yeltsin's creation of a Commission on State Construction; blockage of the Commission's ambitious Civil Service Code; & the current round of reform launched by Vladimir Putin. Obstacles to significant reform include disagreements related to the degree of unity in the civil service; vertical integration of the bureaucracy; the training/retraining of civil servants; & wages/benefit. Structural impediments to reform are discussed. It is emphasized that competing plans for a new civilian bureaucracy are currently being considered & the final outcome remains unknown. 3 Tables. J. Lindroth

Russian Bureaucracy and the State provides a rich and innovative assessment of Russian bureaucracy from 1881 to the present. From a variety of disciplinary perspectives, the work assesses the organization, personnel, and practices of officialdom across three different Russian regimes - tsarist, Soviet and postcommunist.