Opportunistic government behavior: How controlling approaches in public management can prevent it

The article is devoted to features of opportunistic government behavior and the use of the controlling approach to reduce it. The purpose of the article is to identify the influence of opportunistic behavior of the government bureaucracy on the economic development of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and to justify how the use of controlling approaches in public management can prevent it. Three hypotheses are discussed in the paper. Hypothesis 1: The low efficiency of government bureauc-racy adversely affects economic growth. Hypothesis 2: The low efficiency of the government bureauc-racy is caused by manifestations of opportunistic behavior. Hypothesis 3. The use of controlling ap-proaches in public management helps to reduce the risks of opportunistic behavior of the government bureaucracy and increases the efficiency of its activities. The methodology consists of hypothetico-deductive reasoning and a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of government bureaucracy. The article contributes to the theory of controlling public funds. The results of the study are the basis for further research on the development of controlling in the public sector.