ABSTRACT
Segmented regionalism was characterised by the erosion of constitutional principles of a single legal and economic space. Regional authorities took advantage of the weakness of the Russian state under Yeltsin to develop a highly variegated set of policies and political regimes. The concept of asymmetrical federalism disguised the way that national norms guaranteeing individual rights, legal standards and the development of a national market were undermined by strong regional executives, often little constrained by their own representative assemblies. Federalism was increasingly undermined by the development of decentralised segmented regionalism, a process that Putin sought to reverse. His attempt to reconstitute the state, however, was torn between compacted and more pluralistic forms of federal development. The struggle against segmented regionalism once again undermined the development of federalism, but now from the other extreme, and in taking the form of traditional centralism threatened the development of Russian democracy as a whole. Federalism, defined as the constitutionally entrenched separation of powers between national government and sub-national units, became trapped between segmented regionalism and the compacted reconstitution of the state. Under Putin the central authorities claimed the entirety of sovereignty, although federalism is all about finding ways in which sovereignty can be shared between the federal government and sub-national units. Theories of federalism insist that this should not undermine the ability of the federal government to provide leadership, while allowing the subjects of the federation to develop political solutions appropriate for their needs. Centralism as such is not inherently anti-federal, but a balance must be retained between the prerogatives of the various levels of governance.
