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Abstract
Since the inauguration of Vladimir Putin as President of the Russian Federation in 2000, the principles and practices of federalism have come under attack and we have witnessed a recentralisation of power in the Kremlin. Over the period 2003–6 a number of major laws were adopted that seriously weakened the powers and competencies of federal subjects. Moreover, any hopes that the centralizing initiatives of the Putin administration would be reversed by President Medvedev have been dashed. Inter-governmental relations in Russia are once again conducted in accord with Soviet style principles of hierarchy and control. Russia is a ‘quasi-unitary’ state masquerading as a federation.
Notes
See the translation of the Russian Constitution in Richard Sakwa, Russian Politics and Society, 4th edn. (London and New York: Routledge, 2008), pp.478–513.
Danial J. Elazar, Exploring Federalism (Tuscaloosa, AL and London: University of Alabama Press), 1987, p.21.
Ronald L. Watts, ‘Multinational Federations in Comparative Perspective’, in Michael Burgess and John Pinder, Multinational Federations (London and New York: Routledge, 2007), pp.225–47 (p.226).
Edward Gibson, ‘Federalism and Democracy: Theoretical Connections and Cautionary Insights’, in Edward Gibson (ed.), Federalism and Democracy in Latin America (Baltimore, MD and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), pp.1–28 (p.7).
Preston King, ‘Federation and Representation’, in M. Burgess and A.-G. Gagnon (eds.), Comparative Federalism and Federation (New York, London: Harvester-Wheatsheaf, 1993), pp.94–102 (p.94).
Peter Söderlund, The Dynamics of Federalism in Russia: A Study of Formal and Informal Power Resources of the Regional Chief Executives in Russian Centre–Region Relations (Åbo, Finland: Åbo Akademi University Press, 2006), p.14.
Johnny Rodin, Rethinking Russian Federalism: The Politics of Inter-governmental Relations and Federal Reforms at the Turn of the Millennium, Södertörn Political Studies (Stockholm: University of Stockholm, 2006), p.18.
David Cameron, ‘Structures of Inter-governmental Relations’, background paper, Forum of Federations, Conference on Federalism, Mont-Tremblant, October 1999, p.2, at <http://26772.vws.magma.ca/en/libdocs/IntConfFedBk99/ICFE9911-int-Cameron-bg.htm>, accessed 24 Oct. 2009.
Rodin, Rethinking Russian Federalism, p.46.
Migara O. de Silva, Galina Kurlyandskaya, Elena Andreeva and Natalia Golovanova, Inter-governmental Reforms in the Russian Federation: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2009), p.20.
According to the Russian Constitution of December 1993, the Russian Federation comprised 89 federal subjects; over the period 2005–8 a process of regional mergers took place, hence the number of federal subjects has been reduced to 83.
On 19 December 2009 the Southern Federal District was divided into two parts and a new 8th Federal District, ‘The North Caucasus’, was created: see the article by Petrov, below.
Doklad Soveta Federatsii Federal'nogo Sobraniya Rossiiskoi Federatsii 2008 goda, O Sostoyanii Zakonodatel'stva v Rossiiskoi Federatsii: Monitoring Pravovogo Obespecheniya Osnovnykh Napravlenii Vnutrennei i Vneshnei Politiki [Report of the Federal Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, 2008, On the state of legislation in the Russian Federation: Monitoring of legal provision of the basic directions of domestic and foreign policy] (Moscow: Federation Council, 2009), p.330.
The Evenk Autonomous Okrug was merged with Krasnoyarsk Krai in 2007.
De Silva et al., Inter-governmental Reforms in the Russian Federation, p.21.
S.D. Valentei, ‘Soderzhanie Rossiiskogo Federalizma’ [The content of Russian federalism], in S.D. Valentei (ed.), Rossiiskii federalizm: Ekonomiko-pravovye problemy [Russian federalism: economic–legal problems] (St. Petersburg: Aleteya, 2008), pp.57–82 (p.69).
For further details on the bilateral treaties, see Cameron Ross, Federalism and Democracy in Russia (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002); Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Söderlund, The Dynamics of Federalism in Russia, p.15.
Ibid.
Ibid., p.16.
Cameron, ‘Structures of Inter-governmental Relations’, p.3.
M.I. Vil'chek, ‘O klyuchevykh problemakh stanovleniya instituta polnomochnykh predstavitelei Prezidenta RF’ [Key problems of establishing an institution of plenipotentiary representatives of the President of the RF], in Polpredy Prezidenta: Problemy stanovleniya novogo instituta [Plenipotentiary Representatives of the President: Problems of establishing a new institution], Nauchnye Doklady, Moscow State University, 2001, No.3 (Jan.), p.20.
Just one new treaty has been signed since 1998 – the treaty with Tatarstan, which was ratified in 2007.
King, ‘Federation and Representation’, p.94.
Cameron, ‘Structures of Inter-governmental Relations’, p.4.
Alfred Stepan, ‘Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the U.S. Model’, Journal of Democracy, Vol.10, No.4 (1999), pp.19–34 (p.27).
Gibson, ‘Federalism and Democracy’, p.15.
Alfred Stepan, ‘Toward a New Comparative Politics of Federalism, Multinationalism, and Democracy’, in Gibson (ed.), Federalism and Democracy in Latin America, pp.29–84 (p.55).
Oksana Oracheva, ‘Democracy and Federalism in Post-Communist Russia’, paper presented at the conference, The Fall of Communism in Europe: Ten Years On, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 14–17 May 2001, p.7.
See the Federal Law 113, 5 August 2000, ‘O Poryadke formirovaniya Soveta Federatsii Federal'novo Sobraniya Rossiiskoi Federatsii’ [On the order of forming a Federal Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation], adopted by the State Duma 19 July 2000 and ratified by the Federation Council 26 July 2000, Rossiskaya Gazeta, 5 Aug. 2000.
Thomas F. Remington, ‘Majorities without Mandates: The Russian Federation Council since 2000’, Europe–Asia Studies, Vol.55, No.5 (2003), pp.667–91 (p.674).
Ibid., p.675.
Rostislav Turovsky, ‘The Mechanism of Representation of Regional Interests at the Federal Level in Russia: Problems and Solutions’, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Vol.8, No.1, April (2007), pp.73–97 (p.77).
The study included 164 of the 168 members of the council. There were four vacant posts. I would like to thank Dr Rostislav Turovsky of the School of Higher Economics, Moscow, for providing me with detailed biographies of the members of the Federation Council. Short biographies can also be found on the website of the Federation Council: see <http://www.council.gov.ru>, accessed 5 Jan. 2010.
King, ‘Federation and Representation’, p.93.
Remington, ‘Majorities without Mandates’, p.670.
Julie A. Corwin, ‘Federation Council: House of Lords or House of Valets? ’, RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly, Vol.4, No.31 (16 August 2004), p.1.
V.N. Leksin, Federativnaya Rossiya i ėė Regional'naya Politika (Moscow: INFRA, 2008), p.165.
Ibid., p.166.
See Remington, ‘Majorities without Mandates’.
Paul J. Goode, ‘Medvedev's State of the Nation: Letter to Barack or Putin?’, Johnson's Russia List, 6 Nov. 2008.
Turovsky, ‘The Mechanism of Representation of Regional Interests’, p.79.
(1) On coordination of legislative activities; (2) On delineation of powers between federal bodies of state power, bodies of state power in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and bodies of local self-government; (3) On inter-budgetary relations and tax laws; (4) On legislative support of development of agriculture and land relationships; (5) On regional policies and ethnic affairs; (6) On legislative support for economic and industrial policies; (7) On legislative support for social policies; (8) On monitoring legislation and legal enforcement. Each commission is overseen by the head of a regional assembly.
S.M. Mironov and G.E. Burbulis (eds.), Report of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, On the State of Legislation in the Russian Federation in 2006 (Moscow: Federation Council, 2008), p.136.
Federal Law 119, 24 June 1999, ‘O Poryadke razgranicheniya predmetov vedeniya i polnomochii mezhdu organami gosudarstvennoi vlasti Rossiiskoi Federatsii i organami gosudarstvennoi vlasti sub”ektov RF’ [On the procedure for delimiting the objects of control and power between organs of state power of the Russian Federation and organs of state power of the subjects of the RF', Sobranie Zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Collected statutes of the Russian Federation], No.26 (1999).
Leksin, Federativnaya Rossiya, p.159
Ibid., p.156.
Ibid.
Mironov and Burbulis, Report of the Federation Council, p.136.
Ibid., pp.142–3
Leksin, Federativnaya Rossiya, p.158.
Dmitry Medvedev, Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, 5 Nov. 2008, pp.14–15, at <http://www.kremlin.ru/transcripts/1968> , accessed 1 Oct. 2009.
Vladimir Kozlov, ‘Problemy predstvitel'stva regionov v novoi Gosudarstvennoi Dume’ [Problems of representation of the regions in the new State Duma], Zhurnal o vyborakh [Election journal], No.6, (2007), available at <http://www.vibory.ru/discussion/kozlov-r.htm>, accessed 23 Oct. 2009.
Ibid.
Mironov and Burbulis, Report of the Federation Council, p.126.
‘Ob Obshchikh printsipakh organizatsii zakonodatel'nykh (predstavitel'nykh) i ispolnitel'nykh organov gosudarstvennoi vlasti sub”ektov Rossiiskoi Federatsii’.
‘Ob Obshchikh printsipakh organizatsii mestnogo samoupravleniya v Rossiiskoi Federatsii’.
Vladimir Leksin, ‘Federal Statehood in Russia: Legislation and Conflict Resolution’, in Peter H. Solomon (ed.), Recrafting Federalism in Russia and Canada: Power, Budgets, and Indigenous Governance (Toronto: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Toronto, 2005), pp.33–60 (p.39).
Doklad Soveta Federatsii Federal'nogo Sobraniya Rossiiskoi Federatsii 2008 goda, p.330.
M.V. Gligich-Zolatoreva, ‘Pravovye osnovy rossiiskogo federalizma’ [Legal bases of Russian federalism], in Valentei (ed.), Rossiiskii federalizm, pp.235–82 (p.236).
‘O vnesenii izmenenii i dopolnenii v zakonodatel'nye akty Rossiiskoi Federatsii v svyazi s prinyatiem federal'nogo zakona, O vnesenii Izmenenii i Dopolnenii v Federal'nyi Zakon “Ob obshchikh printispakh organizatsii zakonodatel'nykh (predstavitel'nykh) i ispolnitel'nykh organov gosudarstvennoi vlasti sub”ektov Rossiiskoi Federatsii. i Ob obshchikh printsipakh organizatsii mestnovo samoupravleniya v Rossiiskoi Federatsii.”’
Gligich-Zolaroreva, p.239.
‘Comment on the Federal Law of 22 August 2004, No. 122’, NGO Newsletter, Legislative Process in the State Duma: Human Rights Analysis, Issue 76, 8 Oct. 2004, p.1.
Leksin, Federativnaya Rossiya, p.178.
Ibid., p.177.
Vitalii Ivanov, Putinskii federalizm: Tsentralizatorskie reformy v Rossii v 2000–2008 godakh [Putin federalism: Centralizing reforms in Russia 2000–2008] (Moscow: Territoriya Budushchego, 2008), pp.182–3.
‘O vnesenii izmenenii v Federal'nyi Zakon, Ob obshchikh printsipakh organizatsii zakonodatel'nykh (predstavitel'nykh) i ispolnitel'nykh organov gosudarstvennoi vlasti sub”ektov Rossiiskoi Federatsii’.
Gligich-Zolatoreva, ‘Pravovye osnovy rossiiskogo federalizma’, p.239.
Ibid.
‘O vnesenii izmenenii v otdel'nye zakonodatel'nye akty Rossiiskoi Federatsii v svyazi s sovershenstvovaniem razgracheniya polnomochii’ [On introducing amendments to particular legislative acts of the Russian Federation in connection with improving the division of powers], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 31 Dec. 2005, in Sobranie Zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii, No.1 (Part 1), 1 Jan. 2007; see Gligich-Zolatoreva, ‘Pravovye osnovy rossiiskogo federalizma’, p.241.
Daniel R. Kempton and Terry D. Clark, Unity or Separation: Centre–Periphery Relations in the Former Soviet Union (Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 2002), pp.221–2; see Cameron Ross, Local Politics and Democratisation in Russia (London and New York: Routledge, 2009); Cameron Ross and Adrian Campbell (eds.), Federalism and Local Politics in Russia (London and New York: Routledge, 2009).
‘O vnesenii izmenenii v otdel'nye zakonodatel'nye akty Rossiiskoi Federatsii v svyazi s sovershenstvovaniem razgracheniya polnomochii’ (note 70).
Doklad Soveta Federatsii Federal'novo Sobraniya Rossiiskoi Federatsii 2008 goda, p.398.
Gligich-Zolatoreva, ‘Pravovye osnovy rossiiskogo federalizma’, p.241.
Ibid.
Ibid., p.259.
E.V. Pershin and M.V. Gligich-Zolatoreva, ‘Aktual'nye voprosy razgracheniya kompetentsii mezhdu Rossiiskoi Federatsiei i sub”ektami Rossiiskoi Federatsii’ [Current questions of the division of competences between the Russian Federation and subjects of the Russian Federation], Analiticheskii vestnik, Federation Council, No.27 (344), Dec.2007, p.7, n.1.
Darrell Slider, ‘Russian Federalism: Can It Be Rebuilt from the Ruins?’, Russian Analytical Digest, 2008, No.43, p.3.
L.N. Lykova, ‘Tendentsii i perespektivy reformirovaniya otechestvennoi modeli byudzhetnogo federalizma’ [Trends and prospects in reform of the fatherland's model of budget federalism', in Valentei, Rossiiskii federalizm, pp.105–37 (p.108).
Mironov and Burbulis, Report of the Federation Council, p.112.
Daniel J. Elazar, Exploring Federalism (Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1987), p. 67.