Federalism and Regional Policy in Contemporary Russia PDF Download

Author: Andrey Starodubtsev
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317136144
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
How do Russian leaders balance the need to decentralize governance in a socially and politically complex country with the need to guarantee political control of the state? Since the early 2000s Russian federal authorities have arranged a system of political control on regional elites and their leaders, providing a "police control" of special bodies subordinated by the federal center on policy implementation in the regions. Different mechanisms of fiscal federalism and investment policy have been used to ensure regional elites’ loyalty and a politically centralized but administratively decentralized system has been created. Asking clear, direct, and theoretically informed questions about the relationship between federalism, decentralization and authoritarianism, this book explores the political survival of authoritarian leaders, the determinants of policy formulation, and theories of federalism and decentralization, to reach a new understanding of territorial governance in contemporary Russia. As such, it is an important work for students and researchers in Russian studies and regional and federal studies.

Author: Cameron Ross
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134075561
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
This book examines federalism and regional and local politics in Russia. Many commentators have alluded to the unique nature of Russia's dual transition and its difficult task of simultaneously reforming its economy and polity. But there is in fact a third transition under way in Russia that is of no less importance, the need to reconfigure central-local relations and to create a stable and viable form of federalism. Federal states are much more difficult to set up than unitary ones, and forging a new federal system at the same time as privatising the economy and trying to radically overhaul the political system has clearly made Russia's transition triply difficult. The book discusses how Vladimir Putin has re-asserted the power of the centre in Russia, and tightened the federal government's control of the regions. It shows how, contrary to his rhetoric about developing Russia as a free and democratic state, authoritarianism has been extended - through his reorganisation of the Federation Council, his usurpation of powers to dismiss regional assemblies and chief executives, and his creation of seven unelected super-governors. The book explores a wide range of issues related to these developments, including a comparative study of Russian federalism and local politics, ethnic federalism, the merging of federal units, regional governors, electoral and party reforms, and regional and local politics. It also includes case studies of local and regional politics in specific regions.

Author: Gabriel Di Bella
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484330668
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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Book Description
Sound regional policies are essential for balanced and sustained economic growth. The interaction of federal and regional policies with cross-regional structural differences affect human and physical capital formation, the business climate, private investment, market depth, and competition. This paper summarizes the main elements of Russia's fiscal federalism, describes the channels through which it operates, and assesses the effectiveness of regional transfers in reducing regional disparities. The results suggest that federal transfers to regions contributed to reducing disparities arising from heterogeneous regional tax bases and fiscal revenues. This allowed regions with initially lower per capita income to increase human and physical capital at higher rates. There is little evidence for transfers contributing to increased cross-regional growth synchronization. The results also suggest that federal transfers did not significantly improve regional fiscal sustainability, a conclusion that is supported by the lack of convergence in per capita real income across Russian regions in the last 15 years.

Author: Oksana Dynnikova
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513573640
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
This paper examines how regional disparities have evolved in Russia and how Russia’s system of intergovernmental fiscal relations is managing these disparities. Regional disparities have fallen over the past two decades but remain relatively high. Socioeconomic outcomes remain worse in lagging regions despite faster growth and convergence in income levels. The twin shocks of COVID-19 and lower oil prices appear to have impacted richer regions disproportionately. Compared to other large countries with federal systems of government, Russia stands out with its high reliance on direct taxes as a revenue source for its regions. Transfers from the federal budget to the regions provide some redistribution by reducing the dispersion in real per capita fiscal spending, but also tend to be associated with lower growth. The Russian fiscal system offers degrees of redistribution and risk sharing of around 26 and 18 percent, respectively—with in-kind social transfers contributing the most. Finally, federal transfers in the aggregate tend to be procyclical and are also fairly unresponsive to shocks to regions’ own revenues.

Author: Anne Aldis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135786674
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
The emergence of large regions within Russia as centres of gravity for political and international power, and the changing relationship between these emerging regions and the centre are critically important factors currently at work within Russia. This book examines the whole question of Russian regions and regionalism. It considers important themes related to regionalism, including demography, security, military themes and international relations, and looks at a wide range of particular regions as case studies. It discusses the extent to which regions have succeeded in establishing themselves as centres of power, and assesses the degree to which President Putin is succeeding in incorporating regions into a hierarchy of power in which the primacy of the centre is retained.

Author: Migara O. De Silva
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821379684
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
This study is a comprehensive review of fiscal federalism in the Russian Federation. It presents a strong case for greater decentralization. By succinctly surveying the literature on fiscal decentralization and clearly spelling out the main concepts, the volume sets the stage for the subsequent description of the fiscal system in Russia and its evolution through a succession of reforms guided by a desire on the part of Russian policymakers to craft a workable system of fiscal federalism. The authors not only describe the state of fiscal federalism in Russia at its key turning points, but they also provide insightful critical assessments of the reforms introduced at each stage. The book is rich with examples, which makes it an easy and exciting reading. The book's analysis of the history gives perspective to the authors' assessment of the current state of Russia's federalism. The authors make a strong case for greater decentralization in Russia based not only on the traditional economic benefits of fiscal federalism but also on the political benefits from local government competition. The richness of detail and the careful tracing of the reforms over the past nearly two decades also mean that this study will be an invaluable guide to both current observers with academic and policy interest in the recent fiscal federalism reforms as well as Russia's fiscal evolution since the early 1990s and its current fiscal challenges.

Author: Mikhail Venediktovich Stoli͡arov
Publisher: Routledge/Curzon
ISBN: 9780700716630
Category : Central-local government relations
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This is an analysis of the historical traditions and distinctive features of modern Russian federalism. It reviews the state of affairs in today's Russia as it strives to become a federal democracy securing the rights and liberties of its citizens. By tracing two contrasting ideas -- federalism and derzhavnost (dictatorship of power) -- in the legacy of the Russian state, and in relations between the modern federal government and the regions, it demonstrates the need for balance in the delimitation of power.

Author: Jorge Martinez-Vazquez
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
This publication examines the current state of Russia's system of government at regional and local level in relation to tax policy and the related reforms implemented over the past decade. It looks at the size and structure of jurisdictions, expenditure and revenue, transfers and borrowing; considers reform options based on international practices; and discusses likely challenges arising from the implementation of proposed intergovernmental reforms. This publication complements another World Bank Institute publication ('Russia's transition to a new federalism' (2001, ISBN 082134840X) which focuses on federal-regional relations and the impact of fiscal decentralisation.

Author: Cameron Ross
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Combining theoretical perspectives with empirical work, this text provides a comparative analysis of the electoral systems, party systems and governmental systems in the ethnic republics and regions of Russia, and assesses the impact of these arrangements on democratization and federalism.

Author: Peter Söderlund
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789517653060
Category : Central-local government relations
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Examines the formal powers of the Russian regional chief executives at different stages between 1991 and 2005. Also explores which political resources have been associated with increased levels of bargaining power of individual regional chief executives vis-à-vis the federal centre. This is done by examining both the timing of bilateral treaties and agreements in the bilateral power-sharing treaty process 1994-1998 and the political influence of the regional chief executives at the federal level based on expert surveys in 2003.