Governing the Locals: Local Self-Government and Ethnic Mobilization in Russia by Tomila s> Lankina (review)

Abstract

i86 SEER, 84, I, 2006 within national borders for providing the material structure for the politics of migration. Yet, the relationship between migration and national identities might be more complex than they allow national identities might structure exclusionary attitudes, but exclusionary attitudes towards migrants may similarly limit the cultural appeal of national identities the failure of Hungary's 'dual citizenship' referendum in December 2004 might be a highly revealing example of this. Furthermore, the whole question of the re-making of Europeans' own mental maps of their continent and the role the politics of migration plays in this is an extremely fruitful area for future research. Department ofHistory M. D. PITTAWAY TheOpenUniversity Lankina,Tomila. Governing theLocals.LocalSe~f-Government andEthnic Mobilization in Russia.Rowman and Littlefield, Oxford, 2004. xvi + 233 pp. Notes. Tables. Maps. Bibliography.Index. ?57.??. TOMILA V. LANKINA's Governing the Locals:Local Sef-Government and Ethnic Mobilization inRussiais an investigationof the role of local sovietsin mobilizing around nationality issues, focusing on the case study republics of Adygeya, Bashkortostan,North Ossetia and Ingushetia.Butthe studyhasmuch broader and far-reaching implications, striking at the real core of the problems of democratization and civil society, and offering a critique of the overall institutionalstructureof governmentin the Russian Federation. Local soviets are, after all, ostensibly among the most democratic of institutions imaginable. The Soviet emphasis on the compulsory nature of participatorypolitics, once strippedof the stage-managingrole of the CPSU, had the potential to provide for genuine grassrootsinvolvement in both local issues and politics more broadly. To some extent, this potential was realized, according to Lankina'sstudy, in the period 1990-92. Even at the height of soviet activism,however, certainlimitationsare observable.On the one hand, local soviet deputieswere more awarethan most citizens of the disadvantages conferredby non-titularethnicity,and hence led theway in mobilizingaround ethnic issues. On the other hand, the dependence of local soviets, not least in the allocation of financial resources,on the higher up 'titular'authoritieshad a moderating effect and led to soviets distancing themselves from the more radicalwings of the non-titularnational movements. It is the absence of this moderating factor which, for Lankina, explains what she calls the 'deviant case' of North Ossetia the break-upof the Chechen-Ingushrepubliccut the Ingush-dominatedsovietsadriftfromanyconstrainingstatestructure,contributing to theiradoption of a more radicalstancewhich contributedto the interethnic violence of I992. The soviets operated against a background of complex institutional and personal arrangements.Public associations,in particularnon-titularnational movements (theUnion of Slavsin Adygeya, the TatarPublic Centre and Rus' in Bashkortostan),were able to use linksand influencein the sovietsnotjust to political advantage, but to gain access to key resources such as office space and the media. Soviet chairmen and deputies often had dual roles in their REVIEWS I87 official capacity, previous career, and membership or informal links with other bodies. The ability to dispense patronage in terms not just of finance, but in registration of associations, permits for demonstrations, provision of office space etc., tied non-governmental associations into local government perhaps too closely. Nevertheless, for this period of 1990-92 the local soviets appear to have been responsive to their constituencies as well as activist in initiatingcampaigns. This seems to have changed abruptly with the first round of President El'tsin'sreforms of local government. Measures often seen as decentralizing actuallykilledoff grassrootsdemocracy. The strengtheningof republicanand regional governments provided them with excessive powers over local administrations,with fullcentralrepublicancontrol of budgets and the ability to appoint an increasing number of local officials 'Heads of Administrations ' at the expense of elected officials.Leading activistsof the sovietsand national movements either gravitated to Moscow or pursued independent careers outside politics. Lankina is able to give examples of popular local officials successfullynegotiating these challenges and working well for their constituencies, but the overall picture is one in which only associations and individualswho had the approvalof the republicanauthoritieshad any chance of prospering. Local administrators'powers to license and provide premises meant that the number and activities of public associations declined drastically . Above all, this affected negatively the ability to mobilize the non-titular national minorities who perhaps had most to fear from the policies of nationalizingregimes. The first six chapters of this book are devoted to painstaking analysis of these...