海角大神

Call it "American Idol," Kremlin-style. Only this version isn鈥檛 intended to find the next Carrie Underwood. It鈥檚 a nationwide talent hunt to identify the next generation of Russian leaders 鈥� ones that are modern-minded, uncorrupted, and presumably forward-thinking.

The 鈥淕olden 100鈥� initiative is the pet project of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who sees it as a way to revivify Russia鈥檚 tired and torpid bureaucracy. In one sense, it might be the ultimate social engineering project: A government trying to reinvent itself by finding replacement parts for its own political machine.

While many critics dismiss the initiative as a mere gimmick, Mr. Medvedev has invested a lot of prestige in the project and some of tomorrow鈥檚 leaders may emerge from the anointing process.

鈥淭here is a critical shortage of capable, professional managers at all levels in our country,鈥� says Yury Kotler, a council member of the ruling party, United Russia, who has been put in charge of the project. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have many years to wait for a changing of the guard, from old-style bureaucrats to new leaders. So our idea is to find people ... who are already out there in the civil service, business, political parties, academia, and other fields. We will put them into accelerated circulation.鈥�

That includes people like Alexei Andreyev, who heads a business consultancy in the western city of Novgorod. He was accepted into the program earlier this year and has since risen to the upper echelon of winners. He says it鈥檚 already helped him advance his idea of establishing an industrial park near Novgorod, by opening local officials鈥� doors and attracting investors. 鈥淭his gives me a lot more opportunity to influence the process of innovation and modernization in my own region,鈥� he says.

Stanislav Molchanenko, a political aide working on the Stavropol council, in southern Russia, was a veteran of United Russia鈥檚 auxiliary youth group who went on to become a party functionary. But since being singled out by Medvedev鈥檚 initiative, he鈥檚 moved up and now oversees the 鈥淕olden 100鈥� project locally, tasked with finding other talented young people.

鈥淭his gives me the opportunity to find undiscovered stars who need a boost, and then to help them pass through bureaucratic barriers to get better jobs so they can be useful to society,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his really works.鈥�

Other rising stars include Andrei Turchak, a youthful parliamentarian who has been appointed governor of the important western Russian region of Pskov, and former law professor Garry Minkh, who has been named as the Kremlin鈥檚 official emissary to the State Duma.

In all, Mr. Kotler says he has 20,000 names of worthy candidates in his computer, about 1,300 of whom have passed a rigorous process of testing and interviewing. A final list of 300 fully vetted people 鈥� more than the original 鈥淕olden 100鈥� 鈥� has now been compiled.

In selecting candidates, Kotler insists no political loyalty test is involved, nor any job guarantees extended. Winners are expected to network among themselves, generate ideas, and use their Kremlin seal of approval to push for reforms.

鈥淭here are no tangible rewards,鈥� says Kotler. 鈥淏ut officials know that these people have gone through a lot of hoops. They have what amounts to a letter of recommendation from [top leaders].鈥�

Still, critics see the plan as a desperate attempt to shake things up without introducing any real bureaucratic reforms.

鈥淧ublic politics in Russia are severely restricted,鈥� says Nikolai Petrov, head of the Moscow Carnegie Center鈥檚 civil society program. 鈥淲e do not have real, competitive elections, or transparency in government, or open institutions through which talented people can rise on their own merits. But leaders recognize the system isn鈥檛 working, so they propose this substitute method.鈥�

Others consider it just a stunt. 鈥淭he work of actually reforming the bureaucracy and fighting corruption is hard and slow, but you can鈥檛 just pretend to do it,鈥� says Igor Nikolayev, an expert with FBK, an independent Moscow political consultancy. 鈥淭his is just going to bring forward a new generation of people who are ready to say and do whatever it takes to advance their careers. Who needs that?鈥�