ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the use of bilateral autonomy treaties, though meant to alleviate regional concern and push the state down an irretrievably federal democratic path, instead created a hyper-peripheralized federation that undermined Russia’s chances for long-term democratic stability. Russia’s inability to consolidate democracy could and arguably already has had a regrettable destabilizing effect on its two nearest spheres of political influence: the Caucasus and Central Asia. The chapter provides answers not only to important empirical questions but also raises doubts about long-accepted conclusions in the scholarly literature concerning center-periphery conflict and federal democratic transition. While an inviolable separation of powers is inherent to federal democracy, the various divisions can never undermine a coherent, single sovereign entity. Ethnicity impacts democratic transition only as much as the institutions chosen to develop democracy constrain or enhance conflict. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
