Decentralization versus State Collapse

Explaining Russia's Endurance

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3916563
AutoresMikhail A Alexseev (0000-0002-2733-2182, San Diego State University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2001
Volumen38
Número1
Páginas101-106
Fecha de publicación2001-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022343301038001006
OpenAlexW1991385975
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas8

The non-collapse of post-Soviet Russia suggests that state disintegration is not a function of the degree of central control or the balance of power between the center and the periphery, but of the existence and effectiveness of institutions that mediate center-periphery grievances. The article examines four such institutional factors (unavailable under communism) that have enabled the Russian Federation to survive socio-economic and political challenges to state integrity in the 1990s: (1) the ability of the center to provide selective incentives to the regions and the regions' ability to engage in strategic bargaining; (2) disincentives for external support to regional separatists; (3) diffusion of civic separatism; and (4) center-periphery checks and balances. While the balance of power between Moscow and the regions is likely to wax and wane, the robustness of these four factors and the commitment of Russia's political elites to problem-solving through multilateral compromises and bargaining emerge as critical indicators of Russia's endurance. Ethnocentric consolidation of central government in Russia is likely to undermine these four state-preserving factors

Bargaining power · Communism · Consolidation (business) · Decentralization · Economic policy · Economic system · Economics · Incentive · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Russian federation · State (computer science) · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Political Conflict and Governance · Russia and Soviet political economy