Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Local self-government in Russia 231territorial structure of LSG was a typical feature of the institutional heterogeneitythat has characterized Russia’s subnational/regional/local space sincethe mid-1990s.This process of territorial and functional restructuring under the imprintof regional legislation resulted in a significant reduction of the number ofLSG units. Their number fell, countrywide, to 12,000 by 1998 as comparedto 28,000 in 1990. 28 There were a number of reasons for this collapse. First,in thousands of towns and villages there were no elected local governments,as in half of all regions the single-tier district type of LSG was introducedthat barred lower-level municipalities from creating LSG. Second, in regionswith the single-tier settlement type of LSG, an increasing number of townsand villages decided, for lack of administrative and financial resources, tomerge with others to form larger LSG units. Finally, in view of theiradministrative and financial plight single-tier settlement-based local authoritiesdecided to dissolve themselves and to pass their functions on to thedistrict (State) administration. 29In view of the extreme heterogeneity of the territorial, organizational andfunctional LSG structures across regions, and because of Putin’s aims toterritorially and organizationally streamline and ‘unify’ local-level structures,thereby making them more amenable to central level guidance and control,the territorial and functional reforms of LSG is a key aspect of the 2003Federal Law.The legislative territorial and organizational scheme hinges on three typesof LSG units, and on certain organizational criteria to be applied throughoutthe Federation:• Lower-level municipalities, 30 either rural municipalities (selskie poseleniya)and urban municipalities (gorodskie poselenya), are to be establishedas lower-level LSG units, whereby in all settlements with a total of atleast 1,000 inhabitants such LSG units (with an elected local council etc.)must be formed (Article 11.1(6) of the 2003 Federal Law). In view of thefact that since the mid-1990s elected local authorities at town and villagelevels had disappeared in half of the regions due to the establishmentof single-tier districts, the 2003 Federal Law makes it obligatory forthese regions to install a two-tier LSG system with elected LSGauthorities. 31• At the upper level, municipal districts (munitsipal'nye raiony) are to beformed as a (two-tier) local authority, the territory of which comprises thelower-level rural and urban municipalities and is often identical with theformer administrative districts (raiony). They can be institutionally andfunctionally compared to the German Kreise and to the British/Englishcounties.• Moreover, at the upper level, in urban and metropolitan contexts citydistricts (gorodskie okruga) are to be established as (single-tier) electedlocal authorities, which combine district and municipality functions. The