Models and factors in the recruitment of ministers of the Russian Federation and France governments: a comparative analysis

The model of the Russian ministers’ recruitment, that includes recruitment channels, mechanisms, pool and career trajectories, as well as factors which influence it, are still unstudied. The author compares the Russian model with the French one, because France and Russia are considered to be semi-presidential republics and have similar politico-administrative systems of the executive power, characterized by interpenetration of the political and administrative classes and clientelism. This leads to a traditional recruitment of high-ranking officials in the governments in both states. However, this tendency still exists in Russia, whereas the quantity of high-ranking civil servants among French ministers decreases. The aim of this article is to reveal factors accountable for such differences. French ministers have a significant electoral experience and hold high-ranking party positions, while their Russian counterparts mostly have bureaucratic experience. The author considers that such results are caused by differences in constitutions, in configurations of public administration systems, roles of parties in political systems, levels of political professionalization, etc.