Local Self-Government in Russia: A New Stage of Municipal Development

ABSTRACT

This article describes local self-government in Russia, assesses the past and present state of local self-government in Russia, and considers the main problems hindering the further development of local self-government. The article concludes with several solutions to these problems.

KEYWORDS:

• local self-government
• legislation
• self-organization
• local communities
• governmentalization
• redistribution of legal power

This article is the republished version of:

Local Self-Government in Russia

Notes

English translation © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, from the Russian text © 2017 “EKO.” “Mestnoe samoupravlenie Rossii na novom etape munitsipal‘nogo stroitel‘stva,” EKO, 2017, no. 3, pp. 60–77. R.V. Babun, candidate of economic sciences, is the vice president of the Association of Siberian and Far Eastern Cities at the Novokuznetsk Institute, Kemerovo State University, Novokuznetsk.

Notes have been renumbered for this edition.

Translated by Peter Golub. Translation reprinted from Problems of Economic Transition, vol. 60, nos. 8-9. DOI: 10.1080/10611991.2018.1595832.

1. Throughout this article the Russian terms soobshchestvo and poseleniia are both translated as “community.” The term poseleniia is commonly translated as “settlement.” In this context, I believe the term “community” is more appropriate. Also, the Russian word polnomochie is translated as “legal power.”—Trans.

2. “Federal subjects” in this case refers to the “federal subjects of Russia” (sub’’ekty Rossiiskoi Federatsii), which are the constituent entities of Russia (cf. U.S. states).—Trans.

3. The “elected village official” here refers to sel’skii starosta, who is an elected official of rural society. The term comes from the hierarchy of the rural government of the Russian Empire.