{"id":1320883,"date":"2025-11-15T12:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/close-relationships-of-the-first-rank-how-officials-really-build-their-careers\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T08:16:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T06:16:00","slug":"close-relationships-of-the-first-rank-how-officials-really-build-their-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/close-relationships-of-the-first-rank-how-officials-really-build-their-careers\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepotism by Any Other Name: How Officials Really Build Their Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Source: Author&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aleksej.golobuckij\/posts\/pfbid02fkt5PqgcjZ4CVu2ucbiZyKMuwRDd4DqKKjvEvtQYtn3pmPKizESRcXY51x3579nDl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Facebook<\/a> page<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>A senior civil servant sent me this heartfelt message. He wishes to remain anonymous, but he can no longer stay silent.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"165\" data-end=\"475\">I would like to delicately discuss a situation that NABU brilliantly highlighted \u2014 though only those \u201cin the know\u201d truly understood. It concerns the close personal relationships among civil servants of different ranks (ministers sleeping with each other, some indulging in other private predilections, etc.).<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"477\" data-end=\"812\">With the start of large-scale work, we adopted the <em data-start=\"528\" data-end=\"601\">Law of Ukraine on the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law<\/em>. This law effectively abolished the only significant achievement of the Revolution of Dignity and the Poroshenko era in terms of \u201ccareer elevators\u201d \u2014 namely, competitive selection for civil service positions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"814\" data-end=\"1119\">Of course, by 2022, we had learned how to manipulate these competitions (and, if necessary, I can explain the methods in detail). But for people with the right education, experience, and professional recommendations \u2014 who lacked the proper connections \u2014 these competitions represented a real opportunity.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1121\" data-end=\"1600\">All of that was discarded. Instead, under the pretext of \u201cwartime expediency,\u201d leaders can now appoint anyone to any position \u2014 often labeled as \u201cacting,\u201d though those two small letters rarely make a difference. As a result, in virtually every vertical of power \u2014 from civil servants in categories A (ministers and their deputies) and B (heads of departments and their deputies) to heads of municipal institutions \u2014 positions are now filled based on <strong data-start=\"1571\" data-end=\"1579\">blat<\/strong> rather than merit.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"shortcode-also\" data-title=\"Read also\" >\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/mindich-ministry-of-friends-and-suitcases\/\">MinDiCh: Where Friends and Suitcases Run the Ministry<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\n<p data-start=\"74\" data-end=\"137\">These individuals share common features in their biographies:<\/p>\n<ol data-start=\"139\" data-end=\"729\">\n<li data-start=\"139\" data-end=\"254\">\n<p data-start=\"142\" data-end=\"254\"><strong data-start=\"142\" data-end=\"186\">Questionable or dubious higher education<\/strong> \u2013 often from obscure \u201cschools\u201d in the U.S., Europe, or elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"255\" data-end=\"365\">\n<p data-start=\"258\" data-end=\"365\"><strong data-start=\"258\" data-end=\"299\">Lack of adequate practical experience<\/strong> at lower levels in the fields to which they have been assigned.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"366\" data-end=\"729\">\n<p data-start=\"369\" data-end=\"729\"><strong data-start=\"369\" data-end=\"430\">Involvement with NGOs, foundations, or \u201ccoaching courses\u201d<\/strong>, where they supposedly distinguished themselves. Evidence of experience often amounts to one or two commissioned articles signed by the person, a few online videos, and a flashy website \u2014 although, recently, some appointed civil servants in categories A and B lack even these minimal credentials.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p data-start=\"731\" data-end=\"790\">The newly appointed can be divided into two broad groups:<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"792\" data-end=\"889\"><strong data-start=\"792\" data-end=\"826\">A) Members of certain \u201cclans.\u201d<\/strong><br data-start=\"826\" data-end=\"829\" \/><strong data-start=\"829\" data-end=\"887\">B) Wives, mistresses, lovers, and similar connections.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"891\" data-end=\"1317\">While the first phenomenon has always existed, and \u201cold bureaucrats\u201d have learned to work within its unwritten rules, the second group is far more difficult to accept. This second group consists of individuals who are incompetent, arrogant, and frequently vulgar. They place themselves far above their subordinates, who, in reality, are several levels more experienced and intellectually capable than these brazen appointees.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"shortcode-also\" data-title=\"Read also\" data-right>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/green-corridor-for-treason-or-the-adventures-of-the-purse-man\/\">Treason with Privileges: The Curious Case of the Government\u2019s Purse Holder<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\n<p data-start=\"129\" data-end=\"669\">If the story of the personal relationship between these two ministers were an isolated incident, it might have never been made public. But the problem is that the appointment of favorites has become a widespread plague within this government. Morality in the civil service has been eroded. It has become an axiom that appointments are made through personal or intimate connections. Subordinates have become virtually mindless, lacking independent judgment \u2014 easily intimidated, with martial law providing an extensive toolkit for control.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"671\" data-end=\"998\">Another factor is the composition of the older civil service cadres: women, men are mostly approaching or past retirement age, and a few highly specialized professionals. Many younger men, who might have resisted this system, volunteered for the Armed Forces of Ukraine back in 2022. These vacancies have been filled by a temporary, largely inexperienced group of officials.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1000\" data-end=\"1211\">Of course, personal relationships have always played a role in career advancement. But in the past, they were condemned and therefore discreet. Today, such relationships have become the very basis of a career.<\/p>\n<p>Also, follow <strong>\u201cPryamyi\u201d<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prm_ua\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Twitter<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/+rtV4dxYu2_cyNjVi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Telegram<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>\u2022 Materials published in the \u201cOPINIONS\u201d section reflect the opinion of the author of the publication, who bears full responsibility for the accuracy of the information.<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>\u2022 The editorial staff of prm.ua may not share the opinions expressed in the author&#8217;s material.<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><em>\u2022 The owner of the webpage in the \u201cOPINIONS\u201d section is the author of the publication.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Author&#8217;s Facebook page A senior civil servant sent me this heartfelt message. He wishes to remain anonymous, but he can no longer stay silent. I would like to delicately discuss a situation that NABU brilliantly highlighted \u2014 though only those \u201cin the know\u201d truly understood. It concerns the close personal relationships among civil servants [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":1320878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76893],"class_list":["post-1320883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1321316,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320883\/revisions\/1321316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1320878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}