The leadership of the social ministries of the Russian government: features of recruitment sources and career trajectories

The recruitment channels and careers of high-ranking officials of the social ministries of the Russian government are analyzed. The study is based on a biographical database of 104 deputy ministers and department directors from six ministries. The study showed that bureaucratic professionalization is the most pronounced characteristic of officials’ careers. The main channel for their recruitment is the federal administration, and the vast majority have already worked in their ministry for some time before taking on their current position. These trends may indicate the importance of meritocratic selection based on competence. However, officials with a career spent primarily in the federal administration, especially in one ministry, are in the minority. There is interdepartmental mobility, with a number of officials came from the financial ministries, which can increase the influence of these bodies on the social bloc, contributing to the formation of its policies in a neoliberal spirit. After the administrative sphere, the most significant supplier of officials are social organizations subordinate to ministries (institutions of science, education, health care, social security, culture and sports). At the same time, business occupies a relatively modest place as a channel for recruiting officials from social ministries (especially in comparison with economic ministries). In general work experience in business, as well as regional administrations and social organizations, is found more often, and intradepartmental recruitment is less common among deputy ministers. In addition, there are ministries with particularly pronounced intradepartmental recruitment and ministries with relatively developed recruitment from business. Finally, in some ministries there is overlap between ministers and their subordinates in previous careers, which may indicate a patrimonial nature of selection.