Crude federalism, oil politics and the evolution of intergovernmental relations in post-Soviet Russia

• Main Author: Wilson, Gary N.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: khanty
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/14079; http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/NQ49982.pdf

grantor: University of Toronto This dissertation explores the complicated interplay between the institutions of the Russian federal system, the policy making process and the dilemmas of legislative reform in the oil sector. Part one examines the problematic evolution of the 1995 federal Law on Production Sharing Agreements, a critical element in the reformist agenda. Part two looks at the legislative responses of Tatarstan and Khanty Mansiisk, two resource producing regions, to the production sharing issue and the broader questions of reform in the resource sector. In spite of the apparent benefits that production sharing holds for the crisis-ridden Russian economy, the passage of production sharing legislation has been fraught with problems and delays. Why has this happened? I argue that the operationalization of a production sharing regime has been impeded by a series of institutionally-based cleavages and other disfunctional elements within the Russian federal system. First, jurisdictional overlap and the lack of a mutually acceptable and structured system for resolving disputes have undermined intergovernmental and interregional cooperation in the resource sector. Second, asymmetries between the constituent members of the federation, coupled with the absence of an institutional framework for managing interregional relations, have disrupted the policy making process at the federal level and complicated the process of political and economic reform in the some of the key resource-producing regions. Third, the dominant position of the executive branch at both the federal and regional levels has hampered the legislative process by aggravating the long-standing interbranch conflict. The study draws on the vast theoretical and empirical resources available to students of comparative federalism and comparative politics to explain the structures and processes that characterize the Russian federal model in the post-Soviet period. In doing so, it enhances our understanding of the policy making process in this transitional state. The research also makes a significant contribution to the literature on politics and government in federal states by positioning the Russian Federation within a broader comparative context and introducing a number of concepts and ideas that are unique to the Russian federal system. Ph.D.