Discussing Administrative Reforms in the BRICS: HSE University Hosted International Symposium

On 20-21 October 2022 School of Politics and Governance at HSE University hosted the Fifth International Symposium on Development and Governance in the BRICS.It gathered the speakers from ten countries, who discussed the public administration reforms in general, and such their aspects as tackling the consequences of COVID-19 pandemics, international project management, risk management and digitalization.

At the opening ceremony of the Symposium Prof. Lev Jakobson, Vice President of HSE University, and Prof. Andrei Melville, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, addressed the guests on behalf of HSE University. Further addresses were from Symposium Organizing Committee members A.Barabashev (HSE university), Y.Jing (Fudan University), J.A. Puppim de Oliveira (Fundação Getulio Vargas), and V.Tiutiuriukov (HSE University).

Plenary session was opened with the presentation of J.Nemec, Professor at Masaryk University and Matej Bel University, who presented an overview of the public administration reforms in Central and Eastern Europe. The plenary session continued with a review of latest public administration reforms in BRICS countries.

The Symposium continued with five topical sessions:

• Managing public administration in the post-COVID-19 world, where the participants presented their research in “Health-Economy” paradox, propaganda of health care and prophylactics in China, economic consequences in India, tackling unemployment in South Africa;
• Public administration and international project management, which covered the cooperation in energy sector, in research and in multilateral development banks;
• Managing crisis, security and risks in public administration, which included general approach, national security and law enforcement;
• Assessing the results of the public administration reforms – in economic, HR and legal areas;
• Digitalization and provision of public services, where the participants presented implementation of SAKIP system of assessment of public agencies’ activities, and the experience of BRICS countries in digitalization of tax administration and possibilities of using the information accumulated by the tax authorities.

The Symposium was wrapped up and summarized by the members of Symposium Scientific Committee Y.Jing (Fudan University), C.Tapscott (University of the Western Cape), J.A. Puppim de Oliveira (Fundação Getulio Vargas), A.Barabashev (HSE university), and secretary of Symposium Organizing Committee V.Tiutiuriukov (HSE University).

Symposium program (PDF, 264 Кб) 

Following the Symposium we are working on the special issues of the journals “Global Public Policy and Governance” and “Public Administration Issues”.

We would like to thank doctoral students of HSE University Ivan Makarov, Anna Mordashova, Stanislav Razumovsky and Ilya Stepanov for their valuable technical assistance during the Symposium.