AUTHORITY AND BUSINESS IN SMALL TOWNS OF MODERN RUSSIA: FACTORS OF FORMATION OF POWER COALITIONS

Abstract

The article determines the role of business for the configuration of power coalitions in old industrial towns of Perm Krai (Kizel and Gubakha). The study was carried out within the framework of urban regime analysis, the most widely used theoretical approach to the study of power in urban communities. The empirical base of the study was made up of materials from in-depth interviews with local politicians, officials, leaders of urban communities, journalists of local media, businessmen directly involved in urban politics. A binary comparison of the interaction of business and government in Gubakha and Kizel confirms the theoretical expectation of the importance of localized large high-tech modern business for the configuration of the power coalition, regardless of the involvement of regional authorities in it. The urban regime, where the power positions of big business are determined by its industrial and commercial interests, the town development programs are subordinated to the development strategy of the enterprise itself. The absence of truly large business localized in a small town determines the strength of the town administration, whose resources are seriously limited due to structural socio-economic reasons. This resource deficit stimulates local authorities to involve urban communities and NGOs in patronage networks through programs of social participation.