Transformation of the governor's corps in a crisis: personnel policy in Russian regions during the Special Military Operation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Studying the processes of gubernatorial rotation and assessing its effectiveness is particularly important in the context of the Special Military Operation, which acts as a powerful catalyst for personnel changes and exposes systemic problems in regional governance. The purpose of this study is to identify patterns and factors that have had the greatest impact on the rotation of Russian governors during the period 2022-2025, based on a detailed analysis of the system for assessing the effectiveness of Russian regional governors in the context of the SMO. The study is based on a systems approach. The methods used include situational analysis, extrapolation, and traditional document analysis. The empirical base included analytical ratings, sociological survey data, and statistical indicators. It has been established that during the SMO, the federal center's influence on regional personnel policy has increased. This phenomenon can be clearly observed by noting the increase in the share of "outsiders" in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the increased vertical mobility of governors vis-à-vis the federal government. The theoretical significance of this study lies in expanding scholarly understanding of the phenomenon of gubernatorial rotation. The practical significance lies in the clear demonstration of the need to develop more flexible criteria for evaluating governors' performance that take into account the specific characteristics of each region. It is concluded that the current system for evaluating the performance of regional governors, despite its recent update, has a number of significant shortcomings: excessive standardization of criteria that ignores regional specificities, complexity and opacity of calculation methods, and the virtual absence of any real impact of evaluation results on personnel reshuffles.
Source: Journal of Political Research
Authors: D. Ezhov, S. Alekseev
Institution: Financial University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7124009758