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Rethinking Russian Federalism

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Rethinking Russian Federalism Rethinking Russian Federalism The Politics of Intergovernmental Relations and Federal Reforms at the Turn of the Millennium Johnny Rodin Stockholm University Contents Preface .......................................................................................................................5 1. Introduction...........................................................................................................7 1.1. Aim and Approaches ....................................................................................10 1.2. Research Questions.......................................................................................12 1.3. Outline of Study............................................................................................14 2. Definitions and Theoretical Points of Departure .............................................17 2.1. Intergovernmental Relations and How They Vary .......................................17 2.2. Intergovernmental Relations and Why They Vary .......................................20 2.2.1. Ideas, Institutions, Policy Paradigms and Behaviour............................21 2.2.2. Policy Paradigm Shifts..........................................................................24 2.3. Conclusions...................................................................................................26 3. Method and Material..........................................................................................27 3.1. Research Design ...........................................................................................27 3.2. Sources..........................................................................................................28 3.3. Research Design and Analytical Tools .........................................................30 3.4. Conclusions...................................................................................................35 Part I – Ideational Change and Federal Intergovernmental Relations..............37 4. Organisation and Anarchy in Federations .......................................................39 4.1. Organisations as Organised Anarchies .........................................................39 4.2. Federations as Organised Anarchies and Ideational Change ........................40 4.3. Conclusions...................................................................................................43 5. The Crisis of 1998 and the Federal Paradigm Whose Time Had Come.........45 5.1.The Birth of a Federation – The Yeltsin Era (December 1993-March 1998)46 5.2. Hitting the Bottom – The Crisis of 1998 (March 1998-August 1999).........58 5.3. Climbing Back Up – Putin Prime Minister (August 1999 – March 2000)...71 5.4. Getting To Solid Ground – The Putin Presidency (March 2000 - 2004) ......80 5.5. Conclusions...................................................................................................91 Part II – Federal Paradigms, Federal Institutions and Intergovernmental Relations ..................................................................................................95 6. Federal Paradigms..............................................................................................97 6.1. Federalism and Federal Systems...................................................................97 6.2. Federal Paradigms.......................................................................................100 6.3. Conclusions.................................................................................................110 7. Rearranging the Federation – Basic Federal Institutions .............................113 7.1. Understanding Federal Constitutions..........................................................113 7.2. The Yeltsin Legacy – Basic Federal Institutions in the Yeltsin Era............123 7.3. Reforming Basic Institutions ......................................................................138 7.3.1. Reforming Regional Representation in the Federal Centre ................138 7.3.2. The Kozak Commission......................................................................143 7.4. Conclusions - Federal Paradigms, Basic Institutions and Intergovernmental Relations ................................................................154 8. Who Is Responsible? Who Is Paying? – Clarifying Fiscal Federalism.........157 8.1. Understanding Fiscal Federalism................................................................157 8.2. The Yeltsin Legacy – Fiscal Federalism in the Yeltsin Era........................164 8.3. Reforming Fiscal Federalism......................................................................172 8.4. Conclusions – Federal Paradigms, Fiscal Institutions and Intergovernmental Relations ................................................................189 9. Carrots and Sticks – Establishing Supraregional Organisations .................193 9.1. Understanding Supraregional Organisations...............................................193 9.2. The Yeltsin Legacy - Federal Supervision and Coordination in the Yeltsin Era...........................................................197 9.3. Reforming Federal Supervision and Coordination .....................................203 9.4. Conclusions - Federal Paradigms, Supraregional Organisations and Intergovernmental Relations ................................................................225 10. Conclusions......................................................................................................229 10.1. Ideas Whose Time Had Come ..................................................................229 10.2. Federal Paradigms, Federal Institutions and Intergovernmental Relations ..............................................................236 10.3. A Prelude to Future Research ...................................................................241 Epilogue – Towards a Unitary State? ................................................................244 References: ............................................................................................................247 Preface At the beginning of the 1990s Russia embarked upon several transformation processes: democratisation, liberalisation, nation-building and state-building. In fact, none of these processes have been finalised and the country is still very much in a state of transformation. This thesis deals first and foremost with the last of these transformation processes: state-building. During the last fifteen years we have witnessed the dissolution of one federation and the birth of another. In December 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved, and in December 1993 the new constitution established Russia as a federation, the Russian Federation. It was mere chance that 1993 was the year when I first started to take an interest in Russia, first as a student of the Russian language, and later as a political scientist. During the 1990s I observed the twists and turns of Rus- sia’s many transformations. As I began work on this thesis in September 2000 I was intrigued by the latest phase of Russian state-building. As one of his first measures as newly elected president, Vladimir Putin reformed sev- eral of the most central federal institutions. The principles of federal gov- ernment had been continuously contested and repeatedly subjected to reform throughout the 1990s. However, this time around something appeared to be different. I was greatly surprised by the magnitude of these federal reforms. What puzzled me even more was the relative ease with which the reforms seemed to be accepted and implemented, considering that all previous attempts of the federal centre to introduce policies of this sort had failed. Indeed, the relations between the federal centre and the regions now appeared to be transforming towards a more coordinated and cooperative mode, very much in contrast to most of the 1990s, when centre-periphery as well as interre- gional relations had been fragmented and marked by turmoil. I also discov- ered that federalism had been a lively debated topic among the political es- tablishment for several years. These observations planted the notion in my head that there might be a connection between the transformation of the relations between various gov- ernmental layers and branches, the makeover of federal institutions, and the development of how federalism was conceived among Russian governmen- tal actors. This study is the end result of this initial thought. Although writing a doctoral thesis is for the most part a lonely undertak- ing, there are a large number of people without whom my work would have 5 been much harder or perhaps even impossible. First, I want to thank my su- pervisors, Daniel Tarschys (Stockholm University), Olav Fagerlund Knud- sen (Södertörn University College), and Anders Uhlin (Lund University), for granting me a lot of freedom throughout the research process as well as for their persistent and patient efforts to improve this thesis. They have made me reflect on my own theoretical stance and pushed me to become a better scholar. Thank you! The Baltic and East European Graduate School at Södertörn University College and the Departments of Political Science at Södertörn University College and Stockholm University have been very stimulating academic environments for me throughout this project. I am greatly indebted to my friends and colleagues, who have contributed in various ways to the thesis with valuable comments at seminars and in informal conversations. My gratitude goes to Fredrik Doeser, Olga
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