Database of Russian Federal and Regional Elites

This database contains data on the career trajectories and biographies of over 20,000 Russian political elites at both the federal and regional levels. At the federal level, the database contains information on all government ministers and vice ministers, security council members, presidential administration officials, and heads of federal services and their deputies. We are currently expanding this portion of the database to include department heads within federal ministries and services. At the regional level, the database encompasses executive branch officials including governors, vice governors, mayors, and ministers in economic and socially oriented ministers (e.g. Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labor, etc.), as well as federal representatives in the regions (federal inspectors, regional prosecutors, regional MVD heads, regional tax inspectors). This project is being undertaken as part of The Database of Russian Political Elites (DRPE) led by Ora John Reuter (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) and involves funding from the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics. Data on governors is publicly available and can be found here. Additional Data will be made available later this year.

Database of Public-Private Partnerships in Russian Vocational Education

This database contains information on public-private partnership contracts between over 1800 Russian secondary vocational education institutions and Russian businesses in 85 Russian regions from academic year 2013 to 2019. Using data published in mandatory yearly activity reports, we compile a list of all individual agreements between schools and firms and data on the type of cooperation stipulated in each contract (e.g. internships, stipends, curricula support, etc.). The database also contains basic financial and sectoral data on each school and firm. The database is currently being compiled and undergoing validity checks. It is funded by generous grants from the Russian National Science Foundation and the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics.

Survey of Russian Regional Service Provision

Co-principal Investigator for a public opinion survey of over 16,250 Russian respondents across 60 regions carried out in late summer/early fall of 2021. The survey broadly examines attitudes towards modalities of service provision (digital versus analog), evaluations of it, attribution of responsibility across levels of government, and the relationship of service provision to public support for Russian officials. In addition, it also includes survey experiments designed to explore popular expectations about how and when services are tied to voting behavior in the Russian federation, as well as the concrete electoral returns of such strategies. Funding for this project is being provided by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics.

Project Materials: OSF Project Page, Sampling Design Memo