ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the thinking behind the Russian local government reform of 2003 (Law 131) in the context of the evolving relationship between the three levels of authority in the Russian Federation. Law 131’s critics have tended to see the law as part of a straightforward policy of centralization, aimed at integrating local government into the ‘state vertical’. This chapter argues that the motives behind the reform were more complex and may genuinely have included the aim of creating a stable triangular distribution of power between federal, regional and local institutions. In addition to published sources, the chapter draws on the author’s parti-
cipant observation of the work of the Federal Commission for the Division of Powers between Levels of Government in the Russian Federation (Kozak Commission), at intervals over the period 2002-4, including attendance at sessions of the commission, participation in seminars and conferences related to the Commission’s work, and discussions with members of the Commission and its working group on local self-government. The chapter briefly reviews the role of the Law 131 in the work of the
Kozak Commission and then considers the wider theoretical aspects of the reform, before considering whether the reform represented a genuine opportunity to establish a triangular balance of power between federal, regional and local levels, and why this opportunity was not fully exploited.
