ABSTRACT

Across the territory of the newly established Russian Federation, the period spanning late 1991 to early 1992 exhibited rapid changes in the structures of regional governance. 1 During this period, the Yeltsin regime appointed new heads of administration to Russia’s oblasts and krais, granting them the responsibilities of regional executive power within a federal system only recently dominated by a tightly centralized state apparatus. Charged with maintaining the welfare, integration, and health of their regions during a period of tremendous social and economic upheaval, the new heads of administration faced the daunting task of providing services and opportunities for their citizens as the federal government and state-owned enterprises rapidly shed their social responsibilities. The previous Soviet-era social contract had collapsed, leaving regional economies both more independent and more exposed. 2 This new era challenged the inexperienced governors to adapt to a policy-making environment in which the governments of federal subjects were suddenly required to strike a balance between extremely scarce resources and the provision of a minimal level of social and health services. 3 Responses varied on a rough continuum ranging from attempts to maintain substantial elements of the Soviet social contract to efforts to rapidly destroy the old system and rebuild social services and health care provision along the lines of various Western models. Regional executives’ choices yielded important ramifications for the health, welfare, and cohesion of societies in all the federal subjects.