Non-Democratic Federalism and Decentralization in Post-Soviet States

This book challenges the common perception of authoritarian regimes as incompatible with federalism and decentralization. It examines how some leaders have managed to exploit federalism and decentralization as useful instruments to help them preserve control, avoid political instability and to shift blame to the regional authorities.

Autorentext

Irina Busygina is a Visiting scholar at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Harvard University (USA). Her research interests include comparative federalism and regionalization, Russian domestic and foreign policy, and Russia-EU relations.

Mikhail Filippov is Professor of Political Science at Binghamton University (SUNY, USA). He holds a PhD from California Institute of Technology. His research focuses on comparative federalism, post-Soviet integration, and human rights.

Inhalt

Introduction

Part I Theoretical Preliminaries

1. Navigating Personalistic Regimes: The Role of Center-Regional Relations

2. The Non-Democratic Foundations of Institutional Stability

3. The Double-Edged Sword of External Factors

4. Legacies of the Soviet Union Disintegration

Part II Between Democracy and Autocracy: Federalism and Decentralization Dynamics in the Post-Soviet States

5. Russia

6. Kazakhstan

7. Ukraine

Part III Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the War

8. Coronavirus, Federalism, and Decentralization

9. The Impact of the War on the Center-Regional-Local Relations in Russia and Ukraine

Conclusion