The Push for Regional Enlargement in Putin’s Russia
Author(s)
Goode, J. Paul
Abstract
A political scientist investigates the trajectory of Russian center-regional relations from the early 1990s to the present. A wide range of sources including interviews and the national and the regional press are used to delineate and compare processes of regional enlargement in Perm and Tyumen oblasts. This comparison is employed to examine the direction of new Russian federalism and related issues: variance in forms of regional integration, the center’s ability to shape politics in the regions, and the relationships of regional elites with the center. Examination of how enlargement processes have unfolded in the Russian Federation is used to consider broader issues of borders as indicators of the state’s capacity, identity, and legitimacy.
