Federalism, Local Government, and Transition to Authoritarianism in Russia

Since the adoption of the Russian Constitution in 1993, the legal regulation of relations between local self-government, the component units of the federation, and the federal centre has undergone many changes. These developments could occur thanks to the Constitution itself, which, in a rather broad way, refers to the federal legislature, the discipline of the organization of local self-government and of the component units of the Federation. However, the analysis from a diachronic perspective of the adopted legislative acts reveals that, primarily since 2014, they have increasingly shaped the relationship between the different territorial levels of government in a way that essentialy serves the consolidation in Russia of an authoritarian State. It is clear that these reforms were shaped under the influence of Tsarist and Soviet legacies, even if reinterpreted and adapted to new situations.