Challenges for sustainable regional development in Russia after the constitutional reform 2020.

Abstract

Equilibrium of centralization and decentralization is one of the sustainable development drivers for regions in federal countries. The constitutional reform 2020 in Russia was an important political development relevant both for Russia and international discussion. Constitutional amendments made an important contribution to the center-region relations promising to understand better the needs of regions by means of State Council and introducing new actors - federal territories, initially meant for better ecological protection of certain territories. The study allows to conclude that the representation of regions in legislative power is diminished after the reform 2020, but the upgraded State Council opens new opportunities for better center-region communications. Another finding is that the new constitutional phenomenon “federal territories” is unclear and not aimed for ecological needs. It is likely to cause unjustified inequalities in redistributions of finance and revenues between the territories in Russia. Spontaneous creation of federal territories is likely to cause uncertainties in the sustainable development of regions.