After the collapse of the USSR in the early nineties of the last century, an independent state was formed - the Russian Federation. A new flag, anthem and, most importantly, a new Constitution have appeared. In article 10 of the Basic Law, which was adopted at a referendum in 1993, state power was divided into three branches.
Differences from the previous system
In the Soviet Union, the term "public administration" was used; it had a clear structure and hierarchy. It has changed that now the executive power in the Russian Federation is exercised by a system that is independent of the legislative and judicial. Moreover, this is clearly stated in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Exercise of power
According to the Constitution, the executive power in the Russian Federation is exercised by a two-tier system. At the highest level, these are federal entities, and locally - regional entities. A single hierarchical structure has been formed.
But independence does not mean isolation, isolation of one from another. All types of state. authorities closely interact with each other. Only in the theory of the French Enlightenment is such isolation ideal, even, perhaps, a confrontation in the interests of the whole society, ideal for democracy. In practice, this is utopia. This state of affairs leads to a political impasse, the collapse of the entire political system.
Subjects
Executive power in the Russian Federation is exercised by a single system through the functioning of special entities endowed with relevant competence. The executive authorities of the Russian Federation act as such. The basic law organizes all power in the country on the principle of federalism. The difference between a federation and a unitary state is that there is a two-tier system of executive power in the Russian Federation with local regional laws. The government is the supreme executive authority of the Russian Federation, to which local executive bodies are subordinate.
The difference between the executive branch and administrative
Executive and administrative power are not the same thing. The latter serves only as an extrajudicial measure of coercion. Administrative power is only one of the tools to achieve the goals of the executive branch, and it is not limited to extrajudicial enforcement.
Legally, most orders at all levels are carried out out of court. This applies not only to the executive, but also to the legislative branch. But it is wrong to say that they exercise administrative power.
Leverage
How are directives and orders implemented? For this, the most influential services and organizations are subordinated. These are financial, internal affairs agencies, the army, security services, labor organizations, etc.
It should be noted that public administration as a concept is not reflected in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. It is a mistake to believe that this is the executive branch. Government management is much wider, and just includes both the executive branch and other institutions of power.
Executive Function
The following functions are distinguished:
• Direction of the policy of programs of federal significance. Examples include privatization, nationalization, the development of a unified energy system, etc.
• Proper regulation and maintenance of legal order in the economic sphere of society. Examples are the activities of the antimonopoly service, the protection of private property, support for enterprises or any industry, etc.
• Effective management of public sector enterprises. It is a mistake to believe that everything in our country has been privatized. There are many public corporations, public-private partnerships.
• Control and supervision of the work of various areas of society. Examples include control over the activities of Rosobrnadzor in the field of education, Rosmednadzor in the field of medicine, Rospotrebnadzor in the field of nutrition and consumer protection, etc.
Signs
The first sign is subordination, when the lower authority submits to the higher. The Government of the Russian Federation is the supreme executive authority of the Russian Federation, the main institution in this system.
The second sign is organization. There is a whole system for implementing laws at all levels of the state.
The third sign is ubiquity. Everywhere where there are human collectives, one way or another there is executive power.
The fourth sign is huge resources. Executive power in the Russian Federation is carried out by a whole system with wide capabilities: legal, economic, information, law enforcement, technical services. All of them are subordinated to a single management center to maintain the fullness of the executive branch.
The fifth symptom is force extrajudicial exposure. To do this, there are many compulsory services: the army, the police, state security agencies, the national guard, etc.
The sixth sign is control over the executive branch. This is a prerequisite of the rule of law. Despite the separation of powers, the effective enforcement of all laws requires broad control, which can be exercised by parliament, the Audit Chamber, and the prosecutor's office. The authority of the presidency in the Russian Federation has wide control powers. Of great importance are democratic institutions - free media, civil society, initiative control groups, etc.
The system and structure of the executive branch of the Russian Federation
The greatest difficulty is hierarchy. Executive power is exercised by the system of executive authorities, which is part of the general structure of state power. They were established by the state itself with the aim of implementing all the laws and regulations adopted by the relevant competent entities.
The executive authorities of the Russian Federation are part of a single management system. However, their list is not defined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Classification
From the role, scale of activity, competence, method of education distinguish:
1 . Russia is a federal state. Hence, there is both a federal executive branch of the Russian Federation and a regional one. The president and his administration are not formally included in this structure, but actively control it. The head of state is the guarantor of constitutional norms, as well as the rights and freedoms of citizens, therefore, he is obliged to monitor and adjust the work of all authorities. But legally, the president is not part of this structure. The supreme executive authority of the Russian Federation is the government, headed by the chairman.
2. Depending on the competence, bodies of general, sectoral and intersectoral competence are distinguished. The first include regional governments and administrations of territories and regions. The ministry of agriculture, the ministry of emergency situations, etc. Intersectoral services include the employment service, statistical agencies.
3. Depending on the procedure for resolving issues, the structure of the executive branch of the Russian Federation is divided into collegial bodies and one-man bodies. The former discuss the most important issues (the government of the Russian Federation as the supreme body of state power of the Russian Federation, regional governments, committee meetings, etc.). Sole authorities are usually those that operate normally to eliminate bureaucratic red tape.
The role of the Head of State in the functioning of the executive branch
Formally, as noted above, the President of the Russian Federation is not part of the executive branch. He stands "above all branches", and his power forms the fourth branch - the presidential. Hence, it is possible that there is a misunderstanding of who exactly heads the government of the Russian Federation, the executive power to whom it should submit. The correct answer is to the chairman, who is directly appointed by the head of state.
Constitutional subordination to the president of the Russian Federation
The basic law contains a number of articles that “subordinate” the government to the president. In particular, Art. 83 of the Basic Law. According to this article, the President of the Russian Federation appoints the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. Therefore, it can be assumed that if the prime minister is subordinate to the head of state, then all the executive bodies of state power of the Russian Federation are also subordinate to him.
The role of the State Duma in the appointment of the Chairman
Be that as it may, the president must appoint the prime minister with the approval of the State Duma. Perhaps this was done with the aim of productive interaction between these institutions of power. Thus, legally it may seem that the Russian Federation is a parliamentary republic. The State Duma only approves the candidacy of the head of the executive branch proposed by the president. The parliament cannot propose its candidates, nor does it participate in the formation of the cabinet of ministers.
But here, not everything is so simple. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the president offers only two times. If the candidature is rejected, the State Duma is dissolved. New elections to the lower legislative chamber are being called. The president also has the right to propose the same person both times. After dissolution, he can calmly approve a candidate that is objectionable to the Duma. Thus, it is clear that the legislature will “suffer” more, and the necessary head of government will still be approved. This procedure makes the approval of the lower legislative chamber of the prime minister a simple formality.
But after that, the influence of the president on the executive branch is not limited. According to the Constitution, he can release the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation. In addition, it is the President of the Russian Federation who asserts these ministers at the proposal of the Prime Minister. And, judging by the fact that the number of such deviations is not established in the Basic Law, it is infinite.
Naturally, in practice this is unlikely to happen. But in theory, legally, this is entirely possible. From this it may seem that the head of state actually forms a government and single-handedly appoints its head. But this is not so, although under the Constitution he is allowed to chair the government meeting. And the Federal Law “On the Government of the Russian Federation” gives him this right on the podium.
But, despite this, legally the head is the chairman of the government. According to the Constitution, its competence includes determining the direction of work of the highest executive body, the organization of its work. He also has a decisive voice. The chairman is directly subordinate to the executive bodies of state power of the Russian Federation.
Summing up, we can conclude that the executive branch is aimed at the practical implementation of orders and laws of higher authorities. These include the by-laws of the head of state, regulatory legal acts of the legislative branch, federal laws and other legal documents regulating its activities. In addition, it has powerful tools for their implementation. Entire systems of economic, informational, power and other types of influence are directly subordinate to it. Therefore, it is inextricably linked with the concept of public administration. But you can not put an equal sign between them. Despite the fact that the executive power is a huge layer of state power, the latter concept is much broader and includes other power institutions in the country, such as the presidency, legislative authorities and others.
Well-being, peace and stability in the country depend on a harmonious system of state power. It is one thing to issue laws, but if citizens see that no one is fulfilling them, that the authorities are not doing their job, chaos, ochlocracy, and political instability ensue. This could be observed at the end of the last century. After the fall of an authoritarian state by the standards of jurisprudence, a new thing appeared in our country - legal, democratic. The basic declarations of the Constitution remained the same: the rights and freedoms of citizens, equal rights in court, the independence of judges, the principle of the presumption of innocence, etc. But the real picture looked a little different. In the absence of strong and strong-willed authority, namely, executive, all this came to naught. Lawlessness, violence, tax evasion, total corruption have led to such shocks and devastation, from which even many states conducting military operations have not suffered.
The Russian executive at the present stage of its development is undergoing quantitative and qualitative changes. After all, she does not just blindly obey the laws and monitors their implementation. This power also fights against many external threats. For example, it carries out the fight against terrorism and extremism both inside the country and abroad, man-made disasters, forest fires. They are subordinated to this purpose by such federal services as the Ministry of Emergency Situations, state security services, and the recently created National Guard. Of course, some services are personally subordinate to the head of state, but they fulfill the same goals and collectively monitor the calm and constitutional order in the country.