Methodical elimination. Efforts to dismantle the local government system in Russia

The Putin regime has spent over two decades gradually stripping local governments of their autonomy as part of a consistent process of state centralisation. The effective dismantling of the local government system is now nearing completion, pursued under the pretext of improving its functionality. These changes, which undermine the interests of the local population as well as those of local and regional elites, have triggered grassroots resistance. Nevertheless, the Kremlin is unlikely to alter its current course, aiming instead for further consolidation of power. The elimination of local self-governance gives the federal centre significant control over local authorities, where limited political pluralism had previously persisted. At the same time, however, it creates a range of challenges for the Putin regime, which could prove dangerous in the future.
 

The gradual elimination of the local government system

For a decade following the collapse of the USSR – where a local government system had been virtually non-existent until the very end, with local councils serving as a token substitute, lacking property and effectively dependent on the Communist Party – local governments in Russia developed through a process of experimentation. They took on various forms, often shaped by regional specificities. Amid economic crisis and a weakened federal centre, local authorities in municipalities (territorial local government units), which were constitutionally distinct from state authorities (federal and regional), enjoyed considerable political autonomy and faced little pressure from Moscow. They were more dependent on regional governments, which at the time also exercised significant independence from the federal centre.

The process of stripping local governments of their autonomy began shortly after Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000 and unfolded in parallel with the Kremlin’s new policy of centralisation.^[1] A reform introduced in 2003 under the pretext of delineating jurisdictions and competences between state and local authorities effectively unified the organisational structure of local government, in breach of the Russian Constitution. A diverse system of higher- and lower-level municipalities – where the latter formed part of the former – was replaced by urban districts and municipal districts (raiony) encompassing both rural and urban settlements (poseleniya).

To weaken the position of municipal leaders, the government prohibited them (with the exception of localities with fewer than one thousand residents) from simultaneously holding the posts of head of local administration and chair of the representative body. The official justification was a desire to limit the dominance of the local executive over the legislature, which allegedly created a wide range of opportunities for corruption.

As a result, the institution of the so-called city manager was established – a contracted administrator of local government appointed through a competitive process – as an alternative to an elected mayor chosen by popular vote. Appointing such an official, who lacks a democratic mandate, not only created a conflict of interest (as the head of the municipality, chosen from among local deputies, was required to transfer most of their powers to the appointed administrator) but also diluted accountability to residents and limited public influence over local politics.

By 2014, city managers were in charge of 58 regional capitals, and the number of administrative centres where mayors were directly elected had fallen from 75 to 19 (out of 83). In 2015, new regulations were introduced to give the system a semblance of electoral legitimacy – after completing the competitive selection process, each candidate must be confirmed by a vote of local deputies. Today, direct mayoral elections survive only in Yakutsk (Republic of Sakha), Khabarovsk (Khabarovsk Krai), Anadyr (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug), and Abakan (Khakassia)