Democratization in Russia: The Development of Legislative Institutions: The Development of Legislative Institutions by Jeffrey W. Hahn

Author:Jeffrey W. Hahn [Hahn, Jeffrey W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Democracy, Political Science, General, Political Ideologies
ISBN: 9781315480992
Google: pLYYDQAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 32206875
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1995-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Russian Regional Government Reform

Before describing and explaining the variations in the behavior of new regional government institutions in two provinces—Nizhnii Novgorod and Saratov—a brief review of the changes made to Russian regional governments in 1990 and 1991 and descriptions of the two provinces will be helpful. The evidence provided here is drawn from extensive research done between 1990 and 1993 on the performance and behavior of new Russian regional government institutions.15

Substantive change to regional government institutions began with the March 1990 free elections of regional soviets. For the first time, voters across Russia went to the polls freely to elect representatives to regional (oblast) and local (city and raion) government soviets, or councils.16 Not long after the elections, these newly elected regional soviets began to insist on more autonomy. Not surprisingly, nor perhaps unreasonably, if provincial politicians were going to be held accountable in successive elections for the political and economic situations of their regions, they wanted increased policy control.

Following the August 1991 failed coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev, and the disbanding of the CPSU across Russia, provincial governments gained increased authority. Even Yeltsin’s efforts to change regional political institutions further in order to curb growing provincial power—by creating the posts of governor and presidential representative—failed to constrain the more aggressive regions from pursuing increased authority over local affairs.17 Further, although falling short of the expectations of regional politicians, the March 1992 Federative Agreements devolved more power to regional governments to control the reform process.

The pace, nature, and reaction of political and economic reform varied greatly across the Russian expanse, however. In no small part, this was due to the varied contexts in which these reforms were transplanted and the degree of conflict and consensus within and between new regional government institutions. The counterargument to this interpretation is that legislative-executive conflict was endemic across Russia’s regions and was reflective of parallel developments in the center. The evidence demonstrates that this is not a very nuanced interpretation of events, as a comparison of events in Nizhnii Novgorod and Saratov demonstrates.

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