An Assessment of Russian Federalism during Putin’s Presidency

This paper is aimed at assessing Russian federalism during the Putin era. In so doing, this study utilizes three rationales of federalism: (1) institutional mechanism for autonomy and balance; (2) bulwark for stability in a multi-ethnic society; (3) institutional device for common political and economic goals. It seems obvious that Putin’s centralization drive over the past five years has brought about serious imbalances between the center and provinces. Thus, the imbalances between the center and peripheries became so great that the very nature of ‘federalism’ in Russia is called into question.