The coordinate system for describing practices of public administration in developed countries is set by three basic models: rational bureaucracy, New Public Management, and New Governance, which are “layered” on top of each other. However, in many developing countries, these models work differently, and instead of an upward movement, a spiral of reforms and counter-reforms is obtained. Moreover, in the face of global uncertainty generated by the transformation of the world order and the intensified COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more difficult to borrow the best practices from highly developed countries. The institutional model of neopatrimonialism, which includes the informal core and the formal periphery of the system of state institutions, has serious potential for understanding the specifics of government in developing countries. The value-neutral interpretation of neopatrimonialism opens up a broader view of such problems as state interventions into the economy, the relationship between power and property, the national model of democracy, etc. For Russia, the authors propose the redistributive neopatrimonialism model. Neopatrimonialism appears to be a phase in the cycle “mobilization system – stagnation – neopatrimonialism – renewed mobilization system”. It is hypothesized that the next phase will be built taking into account the principles of open network organization and solidarity.