The problem: regional politics and democratization in Russia

Broadly speaking, the literature on transitions to democracy suggests three phases: the breakdown of the old authoritarian regime, the introduction of transitional democratic institutions, and a period of democratic consolidation. However, the level of analysis used almost exclusively in this literature is the national state or comparisons between states. Such analysis rarely deals with how transitions are realized at the sub-national level of politics. Yet it is hard to imagine a successful transition to democracy taking place only at the national level. Indeed, it seems more reasonable to argue that the democratization of national political institutions without corresponding changes taking place locally would be a prescription for political instability. What this chapter proposes to do is to examine how the phases of transition noted here have been implemented in Russian regional politics and to draw some conclusions about the underlying factors that will help determine whether Russia will become a stable democracy.

What do we mean by regional politics? According to the Constitution adopted in December 1993, Russia is formally a federation comprised of eighty-nine sub-national members (in Russian, sub″ekty). Among these members are forty-nine oblasts, twenty-one republics, ten okrugs (national districts), six krais (territories), two large cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg) and the Jewish autonomous oblast. The term “regional” is most accurately used to refer to politics and government in the oblasts, krais and two largest cities of the Russian Federation (all of which have the administrative status of an oblast), although it is commonly extended to cover the republics as well.