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

ABSTRACT

One 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.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic politics
• power-sharing
• inter-ethnic balance
• informal rules

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under Grant №15-18-00034.

2. In reality, asymmetry in the relationships between the Centre and the sub-national units of the RF is more connected with informal practices rather than with formal rules.

3. In some regions, the Head personally commands the regional government. In most regions, the Head appoints the prime minister and all the other ministers. As a rule, the most important positions (Prime Minister and sometimes some others) require the regional parliament's approval. Therefore in spite of the fact that heads of the republics are dominant regional political actors, in their appointments they have to take the opinions of influential elite groups into account.

4. In a small number of regions, the position of Head of the region has been given to the parties of the so-called systemic opposition. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the relationships between the Kremlin and these governors differ from the more common cases where the governors are affiliated with UR.

5. Until 2010, many republics were headed by Presidents. In 2010, the Federal Law banned the title of ‘President’ for the republics, and they had to comply. Currently, Tatarstan is the only Republic that maintains the post of ‘President’ due to its special Treaty with the Federal Government.

6. Over the years, this position has existed in about half of the republics. However, in most cases (Ingushetia, Chuvashiya, Tatarstan, etc.) it was a temporary post which existed briefly in the mid-1990s and was soon abolished. Only in a small number of republics (Kabardino-Balkariya, Karachaevo-Cherkessiya and Yakutiya) is the office of vice president institutionalized and thus needs to be taken into account in this study.

7. Until 2007, half of the deputies of the State Duma were elected through SMD districts. The same mix system will be used in the next elections in 2016.

8. All national republics except Crimea are included in the analysis. Crimea is excluded for two reasons. First, although when part of Ukraine, Crimea was clearly an ethnic autonomy linked with ethnic Russians, the situation fundamentally changed after its inclusion in the Russian Federation. Although Crimean Tatars would claim to consider Crimea as their ethnic homeland, it is not clear whether they will succeed. Second, insufficient time has passed since 2014 to gauge the impact of ethnicity upon the allocation of governmental posts in Crimea.

9. The elections of Heads of the regions were re-established in 2012 but Federal legislation allows the regions to maintain the previous rules. According to them, the Head of a region is nominated by the President of the Russian Federation and then appointed by the regional legislature. Most of the Caucasian republics – Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessiya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, North Ossetia and Adygeya – used this system. Crimea and Sevastopol’ joined them after their inclusion in the Russian Federation. Finally, such a procedure was introduced in three autonomous okrugs, which are parts of other subjects of RF.

10. There are no the offices of prime minister in Buryatiya or Altay republics, as the Heads of these republics command their cabinets directly.

11. Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn is an ethnic Udmurt, not a Russian, but in the context of Buryatiya it is important to note that he is a Russian-speaking citizen.