HOW DO YOU SLAY A DRAGON?

Management and commercial (service) activity should be divided. The experience of successful civil services around the world shows that the more functions that the state outsources to commercial and non-commercial organisations, the more effectively the bureaucracy works. The ultimate aim of this is as much as possible to free up state employees from serving the population, so that they can concentrate on carrying out regulatory and control functions. It’s a big problem for the state that when it comes to management it holds a monopoly, detached from market forces. Therefore, everywhere possible market forces should be brought to bear on the state, so that the laws of competition apply there, too.

The regulatory and the control functions should be divided. This is a fairly straightforward idea, meaning that the people who make the rules are not the ones responsible for overseeing their implementation. These functions should be split between two separate institutions. This is the extension of the constitutional principle of the division of powers at the administrative level: at no level should any significant power lie in the hands of one person. As a spin-off, this is also a much more effective battle against corruption than are criminal measures.

Of course, I’ve listed only the most basic ideas for administrative reform, which is one of the most important tasks for any government that wants to build the new Russia. This reform cannot be put off. If there’s an effectively operating state apparatus, with carefully delineated functions and strict discipline, this will create the conditions for success in all other areas. However, there is one “technical” problem which will hinder its creation: personnel. And, as we know, it’s the personnel who decide everything.

It’s impossible to build a new system of management without the right staff. But for various reasons all the available personnel always turn out to be unsuitable. Some are clever, cunning, well trained – but unable to work in a new way and aren’t prepared to learn new methods. Others are so set in their old ways that no talents they may have can possibly compensate for their deceitful mentality. There’s always been a shortage of personnel in Russia. It was always difficult to find a smart worker for any position, especially for state service. And as for finding a smart worker who’s prepared to operate within the confines of a system that doesn’t even exist yet – it’s virtually impossible.

There’s yet another awkward area: new managerial technology. If we don’t introduce this, we’ll never change the system. For now, the whole system of management remains totally archaic. An official’s work involves carrying out registrations; deciding whether or not to issue permits; and also allocating everything that needs to be allocated. Any thinking person could fulfil these tasks if they turned their hand to it. In principle, they could all be done by a tsarist-era clerk from the old Moscow order. They’d just need some computer training. Given that state functions haven’t changed fundamentally since that time it’s unlikely that they’d have a problem. But if we were to carry out the administrative reforms I outlined above, then the functions of the state apparatus would change radically. For this we need a particular type of professional that simply doesn’t exist in Russia – and never has done.

In the first instance we’re talking here about people who can arrange interaction between the regulatory authorities, state supervision bodies and the commercial sector, and who are prepared to take upon themselves the implementation of a significant amount of the state’s tasks. This is how the modern world works. I have in mind here especially various public-private partnerships. It’s impossible to imagine a modern state that doesn’t have these now. But without highly qualified specialists who already have serious experience of this, it’s impossible to set this up in Russia.

Where are we going to find these highly qualified specialists for state service? This is a dilemma that we’ve come across before. We could employ our own people, and try to train them on the job. Or, if we could overcome our phobia, we could open the way to state service for foreigners who already have advanced experience of such work. If we take a sober look at Russian history we will see that all of the key, fateful reforms have been solved this way. The pride and joy of the present regime, the Russian army, was created by foreign specialists at the time of Peter the Great. They were also the ones in the age of industrialisation who created the industries that today provide the army with its weaponry. At crucial moments the Russian government didn’t hold back from taking foreigners into its service when this was needed. And more often than not this approach justified itself.