Behind the Backs of Public Politicians: Political Advisers in Russian Politics

This article discusses the emergence, the peculiarities of the status, the organizational forms, and the scope of activities of political advisers in post-Soviet Russia. Russian political advisers had their origin not among party activists, but among political consultants. Therefore, their institutionalization in the executive branch is not the result of partisan patronage, but of specific political colonization or even “privatization of the state.” In the author’s opinion, the said personages’ entry in contemporary politics and their accomplishment of meaningful administrative functions may seriously change the balance between politics and administration and form a special kind of political regime—“manageable democracy.”