A Triangle of Russian Federalism: Democratization, (De-) Centralization, and Local Politics

Abstract

The Russian Federation (RF) can be best described as a country of extremes. In less than ten years of regime transition, it has experienced a rapid transformation from an extremely centralized Soviet Union into a highly decentralized Russia in the 1990s and then back to highly centralized, almost unitary, territorial structure in the 2000s. Unsurprisingly, this unique experience attracted extensive academic attention investigating the causes, consequences, and nature of Russian federalism. Until recently, however, a gap has existed between the studies focused on federalism and those on democratization. Although it is generally acknowledged that the two go together, in the studies of Russian politics, the analyses of these processes had been separated. By now, scholars seem to have concluded that, at least in the case of Russia, it is virtually impossible to analyze federalism without addressing democratization and vice versa. In varying degrees, all five books under review reflect the merger of federalism and democracy studies. This integrated approach addresses the interconnection between federalization and democratization and sheds more light on the vicious cycle of Russian territorial reforms.