Local Politics and Democratization in Russia

In Russia where citizens are understandably wary of the state, the development of local level democracy is of crucial importance for promoting trust between citizen and representatives of the state, and indeed for the consolidation of democracy at the national level. This book explores urban democracy in Russia. It considers a wide range of cities of different types, and of different political allegiances, showing that the power and status of cities varies tremendously across the federation, as does the development of grassroots democracy. It examines the recent debates concerning what financial and political powers should be devolved to local governments, and it discusses Putin’s new law on local government which is currently making its way through the Russian parliament, which will be adopted later this year, and which will lead to radical reforms.