Federalism and Local Politics in Russia
Federalism and Local Politics in Russia
Federalism and Local Politics in Russia
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6 Vladimir Gel'manthat they themselves could not solve. Aga<strong>in</strong>st the background of profoundfragmentation of <strong>Russia</strong>n elites, the divergence between their <strong>in</strong>terests preventedthe development of a coherent political strategy for the Centre <strong>and</strong>led to <strong>in</strong>congruent decisions be<strong>in</strong>g made.Ideology was a major factor <strong>in</strong> the process of <strong>in</strong>stitution build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><strong>Russia</strong>, <strong>in</strong> terms of its positive <strong>and</strong> normative functions. It allowed actors,first of all, to m<strong>in</strong>imize the amount of <strong>in</strong>formation needed for political decision-mak<strong>in</strong>g(a particularly important advantage dur<strong>in</strong>g a period of uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty<strong>and</strong> transition) 26 <strong>and</strong>, second, it enabled them to make judgementsabout how far exist<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>stitutions fitted their normative conceptions. 27 Inthis way the deployment of (applied) ideology <strong>in</strong> each sphere enables actorsto take action on the basis of the <strong>in</strong>formation they have <strong>and</strong> to launch politicalstrategies on the basis of particular ideological coalitions. 28In terms of decentralization <strong>and</strong> recentralization federal political actorsdemonstrated three ma<strong>in</strong> applied ideologies: (1) managerial; (2) utilitarian;(3) self-governmental. 29 These may be def<strong>in</strong>ed as follows: the managerialideology is based on the normative conception of government as a unifiedcorporation, of which regional <strong>and</strong> local <strong>in</strong>stitutions form the lower stratum.Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, state policy on regions <strong>and</strong> municipalities is seen as a matter ofadm<strong>in</strong>istrative centralization. From the po<strong>in</strong>t of view of this ideology local<strong>and</strong> regional autonomy are permissible only <strong>in</strong>sofar as they do not obstructthis; they are thus seen as deviations to be corrected. In practice this ideologyf<strong>in</strong>ds its purest <strong>in</strong>carnation <strong>in</strong> the notion of the ‘state vertical’, that is asystem where all state authorities at all levels are directly subord<strong>in</strong>ated to thesupreme authority, whether this is the tsar, general secretary or president.For adherents of this ideology regional policy is primarily about strengthen<strong>in</strong>gadm<strong>in</strong>istrative controls over the actions of the lower levels of the governmentalhierarchy. A significant proportion of senior officials at the federallevel have been exponents of this ideology, as a rule veterans of Soviet-eranomenklatura or the security services, their ideal conception of governmentbe<strong>in</strong>g ‘good’ Soviet practice, shorn of its characteristic deficiencies.The utilitarian ideology is unconnected to the philosophy of the samename but refers to the notion of utility maxim. The normative conception ofthe functions of the State, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g regional <strong>and</strong> local authorities, is exclusivelyl<strong>in</strong>ked to the imperatives of economic efficiency, understood from thest<strong>and</strong>po<strong>in</strong>t of economic liberalism, m<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g the responsibility of the State<strong>in</strong> general <strong>and</strong> the federal state <strong>in</strong> particular, for the welfare of the populationregionally or nationally. Regional <strong>and</strong> local economic or politicalautonomy are therefore permissible <strong>in</strong>sofar as they further the cause of liberalizationof the economy. Regional <strong>and</strong> municipal policy is therefore secondaryto economic policy objectives <strong>and</strong> is thus subject to shift<strong>in</strong>gpriorities. In other words Centre–regional relations are purely <strong>in</strong>strumentalaccord<strong>in</strong>g to this ideology. They may for example, be used to underm<strong>in</strong>eenemies such as the (then) Communist Party, to ‘shove’ onto regional <strong>and</strong>local government the responsibility for carry<strong>in</strong>g through unpopular policies