RUSSIA = THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

AREA: 17,075,200 sq km BORDER COUNTRIES: Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Ukraine POPULATION: 143,782,338 ETHNIC GROUPS: Russian 81.5%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%, Bashkir 0.9%, Belarusian 0.8%, Moldavian 0.7%, other 8.1%

Federalism is mainly a political phenomenon, a form of political conflict between individuals with different interests regarding the principles of government organization and institutional design. Politics is a process of determining “who will get what, when and how” In the federal context, political bargaining determines whose version of the federal union is to be actually implemented.

Two types of culture:  a. Top down culture has shaped a hierarchical, centre-oriented building of empires and nations states. Regions are regarded as second rate institutions or even as a danger for the state authority.  b. Bottom up culture is found in countries with a lack of feudal traditions, but whose communities and regions are of great significance. The basis of central states and federations is formed by their components, the communities and regions.

TYPES OF FEDERALISM  Quasi federalism  Classical federalism  Cooperative federalism  Executive federalism  Emergent federalism  Double-faced federalism

Since 1991 the relations along the axis “center – regions” have been one of the main factors determining stability and effective development of Russia. Federalism and regionalism have brought into life new elements and networks, becoming themselves actors in the political game and thus creating system effects (until March): the so-called parade of sovereignties. 2.March 1992 (The Federation Treaty) - December 1993 (The new Constitution of the RF).

TATARSTAN Moscow was put under pressure by the abstention of Tatarstan citizens from several Russian plebescites. The changes in the numbers of Tatarstan voters participating (and this is a reliable indication of the population's attitude to the policy of Russia) were as follows:  36.5% of the voters took part in Russia's presidential elections of Only 16.4% voted for Boris Yeltsin;  22.6% of the voters took part in the all-Russia referendum of April 1993, where 14.9% expressed their trust to President Yeltsin;  13.8% of the voters took part in the elections to the Federal Sobranie and the referendum on the Constitution of Russia of 12 December 1993, with 10% of Tatarstan voters voting for the Russian Constitution.

Discussions on different models of Russian federalism:  Provincial (in Russian - gubernia) or unitary- provincial.  Nationalist-federalist model.  Regional-republican model.

 12 December 1993 the referendum  The Constitution of the Russian Federation is adopted

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION FOUNDATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM Article 5  1) The Russian Federation consists of republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal significance, an autonomous oblast and autonomous okrugs which are equal components of the Russian Federation.  2) A republic (state) has its own constitution and legislation. A krai, oblast, city of federal significance, autonomous oblast or autonomous okrug has its own charter and legislation.  3) The federal structure of the Russian Federation is based on its State integrity, the unity of the system of State power, the delimitation of areas of responsibility and powers between organs of State power of the Russian Federation and organs of State power of the components of the Russian Federation, and the equality and self-determination of the peoples in the Russian Federation.  4) All components of the Russian Federation are equal with each other in interrelationships with federal organs of State power.

FEDERATIVE STRUCTURE Article 65 The composition of the Russian Federation comprises the following components of the RF:  The Republic of Adygea (Adygea), the Republic of Altai, the Republic of Bashkorostan, the Republic of Burytia, the Republic of Dagestan, the Republic Ingushetia, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, the Republic of Kalmkia, the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the Republic of Karelia, the Republic of Komi, the Republic of Mari El, the Republic of Mordovia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania, the Republic of Tatarstan (Tartarstan), the Republic of Tuva, the Udmurt Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, the Chechen Republic, the Chuvash Republic - Chavash Respublika;  Altay Krai, Krasnodar Krai, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Maritime Krai, Stavropol Krai, Khabarovsk Krai.  Amur Oblast, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Astrakhan Oblast, Belgorod Oblast, Bryansk Oblast, Vladimir Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, Vologda Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Ivanovo Oblast, Irkutsk Oblast, Kaliningrad Oblast, Kaluga Oblast, Kamchatka Oblast, Kemerovo Oblast, Kirov Oblast, Kostroma Oblast, Kurgan Oblast, Kursk Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Lipetsk Oblast, Magadan Oblast, Moscow Oblast, Murmansk Oblast, Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast, Novgorod Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, Omsk Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, Orel Oblast, Penza Oblast, Perm Oblast, Pskov Oblast, Rostov Oblast, Ryazan Oblast, Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Sakhalin Oblast, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Tambov Oblast, Tver Oblast, Tomsk Oblast, Tula Oblast, Tyumen Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Chita Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast;  Moscow, St. Petersburg - cities of federal significance;  The Jewish Autonomous Oblast;  The Aga Buryat Autonomous Okrug, the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug, the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, the Nenestk Autonomous Okrug, the Taymyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug, the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, the Chukotsk Autonomous Okrug, the Evenk Autonomous Okrug, the Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous Okrug.

The jurisdiction of the Russian Federation:  a) the adoption and amendment of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws, and the monitoring of compliance with them;  b) the federative system and territory of the Russian Federation;  c) the regulation and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms; citizenship in the Russian Federation; the regulation and protection of the right of national minorities;  d) the establishment of a system of federal organs of legislative, executive, and judicial power, the procedure for their organization and activity; the formation of federal organs of state power;  e) federal State property and the management thereof;  f) the establishment of the fundamental of federal policy and federal programs in the sphere of State, economic, ecological, social, cultural, and national development of the Russian Federation;  g) the establishment of the legal foundations of the single market; financial, currency, credit, and customs regulation, monetary emission, and the foundations of pricing policy; federal economic services, including federal banks;  h) the federal budget; federal taxes and duties; federal regional development funds;  i) federal power systems, nuclear power generation, fissile materials; federal transport, railroads, information, and communications; activity in space;

The jurisdiction of the Russian Federation:  j) the Russian Federation's foreign policy and international relations and the Russian Federation's international treaties; issues of war and peace;  k) the Russian Federation's foreign economic relations;  l) defense and security; defense production; the determination of the procedure for the sale and purchase of weapons, ammunition, military hardware, and other military property; the production of toxic substances, narcotic substances, and the procedure for their use;  m) the determination of the status and protection of the State border, territorial seas, airspace, the exclusive economic zone, and the continental shelf of the Russian Federation;  n) the judicial system; the prosecutor's office, legislation in the field of criminal, criminal-procedure, and criminal-executive law; amnesty and the granting of pardons; legislation in the field of civil law, the law of civil procedure and the law of arbitral procedure; the legal regulation of intellectual property;  o) federal law relating to the conflict of laws;  p) the meteorological service, standards and standard weights and measurements, the metric system and measurements of time; geodesy and cartography; geographic names; official statistical records and accounting;  q) state awards and honorary titles of the Russian Federation;  r) the federal civil service.

The joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the components of the Russian Federation:  a) guaranteeing that the constitutions and laws of republics, and he charters, laws, and other normative legal acts of krais, oblasts, cities of federal significance, the autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs accord with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws;  b) the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms; the protection of the rights of national minorities; the guaranteeing of legality, law and order, and public safety; the arrangements relating to border zones;  c) issues relating to the ownership, use, and disposal of land, mineral resources, water, and other natural resources;  d) the delimitation of State property;  e) the use of the natural environment; environmental protection and the guaranteeing of ecological safety; natural sites under protection; the protection of historical and cultural monuments;  f) general issues of nurture, education, science culture, physical fitness, and sport;  g) the coordination of questions of public health; the protection of the family, mothers, fathers, and children; social protection, including social security;  h) the implementation of measures for combating catastrophes, natural disasters and epidemics, and the elimination of their consequences;  i) the establishment of general principles of taxation and levying of duties in the Russian Federation;  j) administrative, administrative-procedural, labor, family, housing, land, water, and forestry legislation, and legislation on mineral resources and on environmental protection;  k) cadres of judicial and law-enforcement organs; attorneys and notaries;  l) the protection of the primordial habitat and traditional way of life of numerically small ethnic communities;  m) the establishment of the general principles for the organization of a system of organs of State power and local self-government;  n) the coordination of the international and foreign economic relations of the components of the Russian Federation, and the fulfillment of the Russian Federation's international treaties.  n) the coordination of the international and foreign economic relations of the components of the Russian Federation, and the fulfillment of the Russian Federation's international treaties.

Article 77 The system of organs of State power of the republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal significance, the autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs is established by the components of the Russian Federation independently in accordance with the fundamentals of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and the general principles of the organization of representative and executive organs of State power established by federal law. STRONG GOVERNOR VS. WEAK LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

1994 – 2000: the so-called ‘regional feudalism’. Treaties between the Center and individual units of the RF – bilateral treaties The dominating idea:  to sign framework treaties only with those subjects of the Russian Federation that were not party to the 1992 Federation Treaty;  to sign in advance concrete agreements on critical questions of social and economic policy;  to rely on the results of a legal analysis of the corresponding constitutions, laws and other normative acts of the Federal Constitution and laws of Russia;  not to allow any specific subject of the Federation to obtain any "special" status not envisaged by the Constitution of the Russian Federation or leading to infringement of the rights of other subjects of the Federation.

Treaties between the Center and individual units of the RF - bilateral treaties In reality: every unit that possessed some bargaining power managed to sign such a separate treaty – by the end of 1999 the total number of them had been 45 (out of 89 units). The result - an asymmetrical federal system with substantial differences in powers across different regions.