Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

20 Vladimir Gel'mancentralism’ could, at the turn of the new century, have led to a more propitiousoutcome from the point of view of Russia’s political development. Forexample, had the regional leaders’ coalition OVR won against Unity in theDuma elections of 1999, the result would probably have been continueddecentralization of the political structure and party system, placing in questionthe very survival of the Centre’s administrative capacity. Such a turn ofevents could have been more dangerous than any ‘new centralism’. It doesnot, however, follow that the centralizing political choices made by theCentre after 2000 (in particular the reform of the Federal Council and localself-government, and the abolition of gubernatorial elections) were strictlydetermined by past events. The ‘Soviet resolution of post-Soviet problems’was facilitated by, on the one hand, the elimination of competition amongfederal elites and the subsequent monopoly of the Kremlin over policy anddecision-making, and on the other hand, by the normative ideals and politicalthinking of the country’s leadership. Therefore, as long as these twofactors remain unchanged, no radical alternation to the policy of recentralizationshould be expected in Russia.Decentralization in Russia in the 1990s flowed from the country’s difficultadaptation to the major changes it faced – the collapse of the Soviet Union,market reforms and the creation of new political institutions. Its appearancemay have been symptomatic of the prolonged growing pains of the Russianstate that appeared to have dissipated after 2000. However, the cure may intime turn out to be worse than the disease, or itself cause more threateningchronic illnesses. The next few years will show whether the Kremlin’s newLeviathan will bring forth effective and stable regional development or whetherit will bring new problems for the country to overcome.Notes1 The author is grateful to Tomila Lankina and Lydia Galkina for their commentson an earlier version of the chapter.2 Vladimir Gel'man, Sergei Ryzhenkov, Elena Belokurova and Nadezhda Borisova,Avtonomiya ili kontrol'? Reforma Mestnoi Vlasi v Gorodakh Rossii 1991–2001,Moscow, St Petersburg: Letnii Sad, 2002.3 See Daniel Treisman, After the Deluge: Regional Crises and PoliticalConsolidation in Russia, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1999;Alfred Stepan, ‘Russian Federalism in Comparative Perspective’, Post-SovietAffairs, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2000, pp. 133–76.4 Oksana Dmitrieva, Regional Development: The USSR and After, London: UCLPress, 1996.5 Dmitry Gorenburg, Minority Ethnic Mobilization in the Russian Federation,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.6 Steven L. Solnick, ‘Is the center too weak or too strong in the RussianFederation? in Valerie Sperling (ed.), Building the Russian State. InstitutionalCrisis and the Quest for Democratic Governance, Boulder, CO: Westview Press,2000, pp. 137–56; Cameron Ross, Federalism and Democratization in Russia,Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002; Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, ‘Whitherthe central state? regional sources of Russia’s stalled reforms’, in Michael McFaul,