In search of inter-ethnic balance: ethnic composition and informal power-sharing in Russian national republics

Abstract

ABSTRACTOne of the most influential approaches to the management of ethno-political conflicts – power-sharing – assumes that politically salient ethnic groups should be included in the policy-making process through special arrangements concerning the allocation of political offices between ethnic segments. This article compares the practices of the allocation of political offices in Russian national republics and aims to examine to what extent they depend on the ethnic composition of the population. Comparative analysis demonstrates that although ethnic lines are a significant factor in regional politics in almost all the cases, stable practices of power-sharing have emerged in approximately half of Russian national republics. Since Russian legislation does not allow ethnic parties, ethnic quotas or similar arrangements, informal power-sharing conventions are used so that specific political positions are attached to specific ethnic groups. In multi-segmented republics, all significant ethnic groups have their ‘own’ position in accordance with the share of the group in the population. In bi-segmented republics, a dominant ethnic group controls the main post of Head while a minority group is given second-order positions. At the same time, there are some cases where the allocation of positions deviates from the ethnic structure.