Russia is divided into seven federal districts encompassing 89 units -- regions (oblasts), territories (krais), and republics. As central power has weakened, th

The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1989 left 25 million Russians living in the 'near abroad', outside the borders of Russia proper. They have become the subjec

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Building on earlier work, this text combines theoretica

How do Russian leaders balance the need to decentralize governance in a socially and politically complex country with the need to guarantee political control of

The focus of this book is the legal analysis of the evolution of federal relationships from an asymmetric treaty-constitutional federation to a de facto unitary