Политические стратегии крупного бизнеса в малых российских городах

Abstract

Introduction: the author attempts to demonstrate and explain the variability of large enterprises roles in urban policy and management focusing on conditions, motives and interests underlying the private business political participation (or non-participation) in urban politics. Objectives: to identify political strategies of large business connected with urban communities through enterprises located in the urban areas, to trace their dynamics over the past decade. Methods: the empirical basis of the study is made up by the materials of semi-formalized interviews with participants in urban politics (n = 8); data on electoral statistics and information about candidates in municipal elections provided by election commissions; biographical information about the mayors, deputies of local legislatures and managers of large enterprises, collected through open data on the official websites of state authorities and local governments and enterprises. Results: the article presents the results of the local political landscapes study in two small towns –Verkhnyaya Tura (Sverdlovsk region) and Gubakha (Perm region), having locations of large industrial enterprises; two political strategies have been identified, namely, the strategy of distancing from urban politics, and the strategy of limited political representation in the town scene, complemented by political and lobbying activity on regional level. Conclusions: the dominance of a large enterprise in the town’s economic life does not mean its dominance in the urban politics; large business do not necessarily take interest in the role of a political leader or coordinator of urban policy and acquiring such a role requires high electoral activity, organizational efforts and financial investments.