In this article, the author undertakes to consider the course and preliminary results of the administrative reform in the Russian Federation. What is presented here is comparative analysis of the prerequisites and processes of realization of administrative reforms in the RF and in a number of countries which have successfully carried out reforms of the state government. Special attention is given to the study of the theoretical models that have become the basis of the reforms of the state government. Both the substantial and the functional aspects of administrative reforms are considered in the context of modern approaches to interpretation of the functions of the state.