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Under the
communist regime, federalism in Russia, as in the Soviet Union as
a whole, was largely formal. Only in the recent years,
Russia’s constitutional order has evolved toward a more meaningful
form of federalism, which gives constituent units of the federation
a certain degree of autonomy. |
The new
bicameral structure of the parliament, introduced by the new
constitution of 1993, went some way to making federalism real by
ensuring that each of the 89 federal subjects had an equal number of
representatives in the upper house of parliament, the Federation
Council.
The Federation
Council was given certain specific rights over matters of direct
concern to regions, including budget and taxation policy. It has
strongly defended the prerogatives and interests of the regions,
which has helped to mitigate some of the internal problems that
fueled regional separatism and to allay nationalist passions that
used to drive the movements for separatism in the republics.
The populations
of Russia’s regions and republics have, by and large, come to
recognize that their economies are not likely to benefit from
independence. Increasingly, much as in other federal states, the
politics of federalism in Russia revolves around a continuous
renegotiation of the powers of the center and the constituent
members of the federation. The switch from formal to real federalism
has enabled the Russian state to preserve itself despite centrifugal
pressures from the regions. The sole exception is Chechnya, where
the federal government had to resort to force to preserve the unity
of the state.
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