Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

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Federalism and Local Politics in Russia Federalism and Local Politics in Russia This volume, which includes contributions from internationally renowned scholars from America, Britain, Canada, Germany and Russia, examines federal, regional and local politics in Russia and assesses the impact of Putin’s federal reforms on democratisation. Many commentators have alluded to the unique nature of Russia’s dual transition and its difficult task of simultaneously reforming its economy and polity. But there is in fact a third transition under way in Russia that is of no less importance, the need to reconfigure central–local relations and to create a stable and viable form of federalism. Federal states are much more difficult to set up than unitary ones, and forging a new federal system at the same time as privatizing the economy and trying to radically overhaul the political system has clearly made Russia’s transition triply difficult. The book dis- cusses how Vladimir Putin has re-asserted the power of the centre in Russia, and tightened the federal government’s control of the regions. It shows how, contrary to Putin’s rhetoric about developing Russia as a free and democratic state, authoritarianism has been extended – through his reorganization of the Federation Council, his usurpation of powers to dis- miss regional assemblies and chief executives, and his creation of seven une- lected super-governors. The book explores a wide range of issues related to these developments, including a comparative study of Russian federalism and local politics, ethnic federalism, the merging of federal units, regional governors, electoral and party reforms, and regional and local politics. It also includes case studies of local and regional politics in specific regions. Cameron Ross is a Reader in Politics in the College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Dundee. He has published widely in the field of Russian politics particularly in the areas of regional and local level politics. His most recent books are: Regional Politics in Russia (2002), Federalism and Democratisation in Russia (2003), Russian Politics under Putin (2004). Adrian Campbell is a senior lecturer at the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham. He has been involved in researching and consulting in local and regional government in the Russian Federation and the CIS since 1990. He recently co-edited (with Andrew Coulson) a volume on Local Government in Central and Eastern Europe, also published by Routledge. BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies Series Editor: Richard Sakwa Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent Editorial Committee: Julian Cooper, Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham Terry Cox, Department of Central and East European Studies, University of Glasgow Rosalind Marsh, Department of European Studies and Modern Languages, University of Bath David Moon, Department of History, University of Durham Hilary Pilkington, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick Stephen White, Department of Politics, University of Glasgow Founding Editorial Committee Member: George Blazyca, Centre for Contemporary European Studies, University of Paisley. This series is published on behalf of BASEES (the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies). The series comprises original, high-quality, research-level work by both new and established scholars on all aspects of Russian, Soviet, post-Soviet and East European Studies in humanities and social science subjects. 1 Ukraine’s Foreign and Security 5 Political Elites and the New Russia Policy, 1991–2000 Anton Steen Roman Wolczuk 6 Dostoevsky and the Idea 2 Political Parties in the Russian of Russianness Regions Sarah Hudspith Derek S. Hutcheson 7 Performing Russia – 3 Local Communities and Folk Revival and Russian Post-Communist Identity Transformation Laura J. Olson Edited by Simon Smith 8 Russian Transformations 4 Repression and Resistance in Edited by Leo McCann Communist Europe J.C. Sharman 9 Soviet Music and Society 16 Literature in Post-Communist under Lenin and Russia and Eastern Stalin Europe The Baton and Sickle The Russian, Czech and Edited by Neil Edmunds Slovak fiction of the changes 1988–98 Rajendra A. Chitnis 10 State Building in Ukraine The Ukrainian parliament, 17 Soviet Dissent and 1990–2003 Russia’s Transition to Sarah Whitmore Democracy Dissident legacies 11 Defending Human Rights in Robert Horvath Russia Sergei Kovalyov, dissident and 18 Russian and Soviet Film human rights commissioner, Adaptations of Literature, 1969–2003 1900–2001 Emma Gilligan Screening the word Edited by Stephen Hutchings and 12 Small-Town Russia Anat Vernitski Postcommunist livelihoods and identities: a portrait 19 Russia as a Great Power of the Intelligentsia in Achit, Dimensions of security under Bednodemyanovsk and Putin Zubtsov, 1999–2000 Edited by Jakob Hedenskog, Anne White Vilhelm Konnander, Bertil Nygren, Ingmar Oldberg 13 Russian Society and the and Christer Pursiainen Orthodox Church Religion in Russia after 20 Katyn and the Soviet Massacre Communism of 1940 Zoe Knox Truth, justice and memory George Sanford 14 Russian Literary Culture in the Camera Age 21 Conscience, Dissent and Reform The Word as Image in Soviet Russia Stephen Hutchings Philip Boobbyer 15 Between Stalin and Hitler 22 The Limits of Russian Class war and race war on the Democratisation Dvina, 1940–46 Emergency powers and Geoffrey Swain states of emergency Alexander N. Domrin 23 The Dilemmas of 32 The Germans of the Soviet Union Destalinisation Irina Mukhina A social and cultural history of reform in the Khrushchev Era 33 Re-constructing the Post-Soviet Edited by Polly Jones Industrial Region The Donbas in transition 24 News Media and Power in Edited by Adam Swain Russia Olessia Koltsova 34 Chechnya – Russia’s “War on Terror” 25 Post-Soviet Civil Society John Russell Democratization in Russia and the Baltic States 35 The New Right in the New Europe Anders Uhlin Czech transformation and right- wing politics, 1989–2006 26 The Collapse of Communist Seán Hanley Power in Poland Jacqueline Hayden 36 Democracy and Myth in Russia and Eastern Europe 27 Television, Democracy and Edited by Alexander Wöll and Elections in Russia Harald Wydra Sarah Oates 37 Energy Dependency, Politics 28 Russian Constitutionalism and Corruption in the Former Historical and contemporary Soviet Union development Russia’s power, oligarchs’ profits Andrey N. Medushevsky and Ukraine’s missing energy policy, 1995–2006 29 Late Stalinist Russia Margarita M. Balmaceda Society between reconstruction and reinvention 38 Peopling the Russian Periphery Edited by Juliane Fürst Borderland colonization in Eurasian history 30 The Transformation of Urban Edited by Nicholas B. Breyfogle, Space in Post-Soviet Russia Abby Schrader and Konstantin Axenov, Isolde Brade Willard Sunderland and Evgenij Bondarchuk 39 Russian Legal Culture before 31 Western Intellectuals and the and after Communism Soviet Union, 1920–40 Criminal justice, politics and From Red Square to the Left Bank the public sphere Ludmila Stern Frances Nethercott 40 Political and Social Thought in 46 Democratization and Post-Communist Russia Gender in Contemporary Pxel Kaehne Russia Suvi Salmenniemi 41 The Demise of the Soviet Communist Party 47 Narrating Post-Communism Atsushi Ogushi Colonial discourse and Europe’s borderline civilization 42 Russian Policy towards China Nataša Kovacˇevic´ and Japan The El'tsin and Putin 48 Globalization and the State in periods Central and Eastern Europe Natasha Kuhrt The politics of foreign direct investment 43 Soviet Karelia Jan Drahokoupil Politics, planning and terror in Stalin’s Russia, 1920–39 49 Local Politics and Nick Baron Democratisation in Russia Cameron Ross 44 Reinventing Poland Economic and political 50 The Emancipation of the Serfs transformation and evolving in Russia national identity Peace arbitrators and the Edited by Martin Myant and development of civil society Terry Cox Roxanne Easley 45 The Russian Revolution in 51 Federalism and Local Politics in Retreat, 1920–24 Russia Soviet workers and the new Edited by Cameron Ross and communist elite Adrian Campbell Simon Pirani Federalism and Local Politics in Russia Edited by Cameron Ross and Adrian Campbell First published 2009 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business © 2009 Editorial selection and matter; Cameron Ross and Adrian Campbell; individual chapters the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Federalism and local politics in Russia / edited by Cameron Ross and Adrian Campbell. p. cm. – (Basees/routledge series on russian and east european studies ; 51) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Central-local government
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