Governance in the Post‐Soviet Era: Challenges and Opportunities

• Date: 01 March 2019
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13014

Governance in the Post-Soviet Era: Challenges and Opportunities 281

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 79, Iss. 2, pp. 281–285. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13014.

Governance in the Post-Soviet Era:

Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract: In the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s demise, the countries formerly comprising it embarked on

massive reforms to transition from socialist to market-driven economies. This transition also required substantial

transformation of their governance systems. In this Viewpoint essay, the authors reflect on critical reforms in human

resource management, ethics management, and anti-corruption, and highlight successful initiatives in these fields.

They also discuss the role of the Astana Civil Service Hub in helping the countries in the region to jointly look for

solutions to common governance challenges and to learn from policies and strategies that proved effective for their peers.

The authors conclude by identifying the common elements of effective public administration reforms in the post-Soviet

setting.

Alikhan Baimenov

Astana Civil Service Hub Kazakhstan

Saltanat Liebert

Virginia Commonwealth University

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in

1991, the newly independent states that

once made up the Soviet Union were faced

with the herculean challenge of reforming existing

governance structures to enable them to develop their

stagnant economies and effectively deliver services to

their people. Many of the reforms are still ongoing,

albeit with differences in scope and sequencing. In

this Viewpoint essay, we offer a discussion of key

governance challenges facing these countries, highlight

success stories of countries that managed to reform

their public sectors, and examine the challenges that

remain. We also describe the role of the Astana Civil

Service Hub (ACSH) in helping the countries in the

region address governance challenges through capacity

building and peer learning, as well as through research

and knowledge management. In conclusion, we offer

our view on key elements of building effective public

administration given the region’s Soviet legacy and

other constraints.

Key Governance Challenges Facing Post-

Soviet Countries

The former Soviet region is characterized by

significant political, societal, and economic diversity.

In some parts of this region, we see low-income

countries ruled by authoritarian governments, with

weak states and a collapsing social structure, while in

others, there are well-functioning and economically

stable democracies; some are even full members of the

European Union. More than 70 years of Soviet rule

left the newly independent republics with a well-

educated populace but also a highly bureaucratic and

legalistic administrative apparatus that was focused

more on fostering the agenda of the Communist Party

than on delivering public services to the population.

In early 1990s, in the aftermath of the dissolution of

the Soviet Union, key governance challenges facing

the new states included the need to move rapidly from

a command to a market economy (a transition that

was accompanied by economic crisis and inflation,

leading to low pay for public employees), a bloated

public sector, high levels of corruption among public

servants, inefficient and ineffective public services,

a lack of transparency in decision making, a lack

of accountability of public officials to the citizenry,

and inadequate management of human resources in

the public sector (ACSH 2016; Liebert, Condrey,

and Goncharov 2013). In the following sections, we

discuss a few of these salient governance challenges—

namely, anticorruption efforts, human resource

management, and performance appraisal—and the

role of the ACSH in helping address them. Given the

space constraints, this essay does not aim to provide

a comprehensive analysis of governance reforms in

all post-Soviet countries. Rather, we highlight a few

examples from countries that have made noteworthy

efforts at improving some aspects of their public

administration. Our intention was to select initiatives

that could be replicated elsewhere in the region.

Ethics Management and Anticorruption Practices

One of the most crippling problems that a number

of the countries in this region face is corruption. It is

a crucial challenge, the solution to which is often a

prerequisite for robust economic growth, a favorable

business environment, a vibrant civil society, and a

Viewpoint

Stephen E. Condrey

and Tonya Neaves,

Associate Editors

Saltanat Liebert is associate professor

in the L. Douglas Wilder School of

Government and Public Affairs, Virginia

Commonwealth University, Richmond,

Virginia. Her research focuses on

comparative governance, civil service

reforms, and immigration policy. She is

the coeditor of

Public Administration in

Post-Communist Countries: Former Soviet

Union, Central and Eastern Europe, and

Mongolia

(CRC Press, 2013) and the

author of

Irregular Migration from the

Former Soviet Union to the United States

(Routledge, 2009).

E-mail: sliebert@vcu.edu

Alikhan Baimenov is chair of the

Steering Committee of the Astana Civil

Service Hub, an organization comprising 40

nations that was established to strengthen

civil service through cooperation among

its participants. He formerly served in

prominent positions in the government of

Kazakhstan.

E-mail: baimenov.alikhan@gmail.com