Russia’s Internal Empire
Center versus Regions
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
According to its constitution, Russia has a federal state structure. 25 of the more than 80 regions are national republics or autonomous districts, the rest are self-governing regions that were not constituted according to ethnic criteria. In terms of area, population, and economic structure, the regions are extremely heterogeneous. In the early 1990s, strong republics were particularly able to develop their formal rights of autonomy and the right to have a say at the centre. But from the second half of the 1990s on, there was a reversal. One of the catalysts was the military response to separatist efforts in Chechnya, which Moscow crushed in two ruthless wars. The model developed in Chechnya, the integration of loyal regional leaders into a centralized power vertical, was transferred to all regions in the 2000s. Almost all sources of autonomous power were eliminated. Russia’s war against Ukraine has further strengthened centralism. But at the same time, it has exposed the breaking points of the heterogeneous structure that is Russia.
(Osteuropa 1-3/2024, pp. 123–134)