Federalism and democratization in Russia

The scholarly literature on democratic transitions has largely ignored deve lopments at the local level and the relationship between federalism and dem ocracy. In this work I examine the development of federalism in Russia and I assess the impact of Russia's highly asymmetrical form of federalism on d emocratisation. The study shows that federalism far from promoting democrac y has allowed authoritarianism to flourish in many of Russia's eighty nine regions and republics. Federalism and democratization in Russia exist in co ntradiction rather than harmony. In a Vicious circle, authoritarianism at t he centre has been nourished by authoritarianism in the region and vice ver sa. "Elective dictatorships" and "delegative democracies" are now well entr enched in many republics, and mini-presidential systems are firmly establis hed in a majority of the regions. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Lt d on behalf of The Regents of the University of California.