ABSTRACT
The simultaneous devolution of power from the executive branch of government to the legislature as well as from central administration to regional agencies has become a principal focus both for those who seek to foster a more democratic political order in Russia and for those who seek to analyze a perceived transition from a more authoritarian Soviet past. The orderly delegation of duties and authority away from the national executive lies at the core of any sustained attempt to democratize the inheritor states of an excessively centralized Soviet state.
