ABSTRACT
The Russian Federation was formed after the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. The new state had to undergo a difficult transition, where the political, economic and governance systems had to be reformed simultaneously. The Russian Federation, or Russia, is a multi-national state, and the complex ethno-territorial legacies of the USSR continue to influence federal dynamics today. The Russian authorities have had to contend with the dilemmas of federalism: how
to provide effective governance without too much internal differentiation, while still maintaining the positive aspects of devolved governance, such as the ability to accommodate very divergent local constituencies. In the 1990s Russia had a weak centre and an increasingly fragmented federation, whereas the federal reforms implemented under Vladimir Putin (President in 2000-08 and from 2012, and Chairman of the Government in 2008-12) resulted in the establishment of a de facto unitary state. The dynamics of Russian federalism have also been influenced by electoral reforms and the development of a party system. In the 2000s the emerging ‘party of power’, known by the middle of the decade as Yedinaya Rossiya (YeRUnited Russia), gained an increasingly hegemonic position in the State Duma (the lower chamber of the federal legislature) and the regional legislatures; this positionwas further entrenched by 2017, following a series of reforms to electoral legislation. The ebbs and flows of federalism have also been reflected in the sub-national
political institutions: the introduction of a system of gubernatorial elections from 1996 onwards to all territories confirmed the ‘regionalization’ of political power in Russia, whereas the gradual centralization of the political regime was reinforced after the abolition of these elections in 2004. However, the reinstatement of a system of gubernatorial elections in 2012 did not lead to major changes in the political status quo at the regional level by 2017, but rather served to strengthen leaders loyal to or supported by the federal authorities.
