Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

3 Federal discourses, minority rights, andconflict transformationAndreas Heinemann-Grüder1 IntroductionWhat can be learnt from the various guises of federalism, particularly ethnicfederalism, which have arisen in Russia following the dissolution of theSoviet Union? This chapter argues that the less the hegemonic discoursessupport a normative federal culture, the easier it is to undermine basic federalinstitutions. The thesis is discussed against the backdrop of changedperspectives on post-Soviet federalism. It is additionally argued that therecent changes in federal institutional arrangements affect the behaviouralincentives of actors. As evidence of this thesis I provide an overview of federalarrangements, particularly the status of ethnic rights and ethnic regions,and their impact on conflicts with non-dominant groups. Finally, I arguethat recent Russian experience demonstrates that the survival of a federationdepends on the functioning of democratic regimes and federal parties. Iexamine patterns of interaction of federal arrangements with other segmentsof the political regime, particularly the concentration of powers in the centralexecutive and presidency.This study is part of a wider project, which examines the effects of ethnofederalarrangements on conflictual behaviour in Russia, India, Nigeria, andSpain. It is based on open and standardized interviews with the permanentrepresentatives of ethnic republics in the central government; with deputiesof the State Duma and the Federation Council, legal experts at theConstitutional Court, members of the presidential administration and thefederal Ministry of Regional Affairs; with party officials of seven nationalparties, and thirty-one interviews with non-Russian deputies of regional legislaturesin the republic of Bashkortostan, Adygeya and Kabardino-Balkariya. The interviews were conducted between December 2005 andNovember 2006.2 Post-Soviet discourses on federalismIn post-Soviet Russia we can observe a change of the dominant topics to befound in the public discourse on federalism. Whereas Soviet federalism was