Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Between a rock and a hard place 515 For complete texts, see W. R. Batsell, Soviet Rule in Russia, New York: TheMacmillan Company, 1929, pp. 79–82.6 V. Aspaturian, ‘The theory and practice of Soviet federalism’, The Journal ofPolitics, Vol. 12, 1950, fn. 15, referring to Lenin’s Collected Works, XXII, p. 26.7 Aspaturian, p. 26.8 Ibid.9 ‘Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1977’, Articles 3, 6 and 108 in Finer, pp. 149and 175.10 See L. G. Churchward, Contemporary Soviet Government, London: Routledgeand Kegan Paul, revised second edition, 1975, p. 167.11 M. Filippov, P. C. Ordeshook and O. Shvetsova, Designing Federalism: A Theoryof Self-Sustainable Federal Institutions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2004, p. 89.12 W. H. Riker, Federalism: Origin, Operation, Significance, Boston, MA: Little,Brown and Company, 1964, p. 13.13 Ibid., pp. 13–14.14 C. J. Friedrich, Trends of Federalism in Theory and Practice, New York: Praeger,1968, p. 49.15 Filippov et al., pp.92–3.16 G. Smith, ‘Federation, defederation and refederation: from the Soviet Union toRussian statehood’, in G. Smith (ed.), Federalism: The Multiethnic Challenge,London: Longman, 1995, Ch. 6, pp. 159–60.17 Filippov et al., p.92.18 Smith, p. 162.19 Ibid., p. 163.20 R. Sakwa, ‘From revolution to krizis: the transcending revolutions of 1989–91’,Comparative Politics, Vol. 38, No 4, July 2006, p. 462.21 Ibid., p. 465.22 The detailed events and developments of the period 1991-93 that led up to theformal adoption of Russia’s first post-communist Constitution in December 1993are ably summarized in C. Ross, Federalism and Democratisation in Russia,Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002, Ch. 2, pp. 17–28.23 See C. Ross, ‘Russia’s multinational federation: from constitutional to contractfederalism and the ‘“war of laws and sovereignties”’, in M. Burgess and J. Pinder(eds), Multinational Federations, London: Routledge, 2007, pp. 108–26.24 A. Heinemann-Grüder, ‘Why did Russia not break apart? Legacies, actors, andinstitutions in Russia’s federalism’, in A. Heinemann-Grüder (ed.), FederalismDoomed? European Federalism Between Integration and Separation, Oxford:Berghahn Books, 2002, p. 153.25 Ibid., p. 151.26 See P. King, Federalism and Federation, Beckenham: Croom Helm, 1982.27 M. Burgess, Comparative Federalism in Theory and Practice, London: Routledge,2006, p. 2.28 Heinemann-Grüder, p. 153.29 Ronald Watts remarked thatsignificant characteristics of federal processes include a strong predispositionto democracy since they presume the voluntary consent of citizens in theconstituent units, non-centralisation as a principle expressed through multiplecentres of political decision-making, open political bargaining, – … theoperation of checks and balances to avoid the concentration of power and arespect for constitutionalism.(Comparing Federal Systems, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University,2nd edition, 1999, p. 14)