Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

1 Leviathan’s returnThe policy of recentralization incontemporary RussiaVladimir Gel'manOn 13 September 2004, speaking in a television broadcast, President Putinannounced a set of political reforms, the most important of which was therejection of direct elections for executive heads of Russia’s regions. From2005, regional executive heads (henceforth ‘governors’ in this text, except inexceptional cases) would be confirmed in their post by regional legislatures,having first being proposed by the President of the Federation.Putin’s decision, taken in the wake of the tragic deaths of hostages in theNorth Ossetian town of Beslan, and announced as an anti-terrorist measure,provoked widespread criticism and was considered by a number of observersas one more step by the Kremlin towards the destruction of democraticinstitutions in the country. At the same time the switch (or reversion) toappointing rather than electing governors was the logical consequence of thepolicy of centralization which began in 2000. This policy was in many waysa reaction against the spontaneous and poorly managed process of decentralizationin Russia during the 1990s. It included a comprehensive range ofmeasures aimed at placing control over the main levers of power in thehands of the federal authorities (hereafter the Centre). These measures led tothe recentralization of institutional regulation of the political ‘rules of thegame’, recentralization of resources and administrative recentralization. Theabolition of direct gubernatorial elections may be seen as moving therecentralization policy into a new qualitative phase.What are the origins of the policy of recentralization in the RussianFederation? Which ideas and interests form its basis? How did these factorsinfluence its course and results? How significant is recentralization for thepolitical development of Russia and what is its future? These are the questionswhich this chapter shall address. In the first section we review the trendtowards regionalization against the background of the transformations thatwere taking place in Russia during the 1990s and 2000s. We then considerthe ideologies and interests of the political actors involved in recentralizationafter 2000, and their influence on the course of federal reforms in Russia, thepolicy that might be termed ‘new centralism’ (to distinguish it from ‘old’soviet-style centralism). We then analyze this policy of ‘new centralism’ andits influence on the process of reform of the Russian state. Finally we draw