Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 19 – “The virus of
totalitarianism” contained within the 1993 Russian Constitution is now
replicating itself in Putin’s reforms in general and his attack on the autonomy
of local administrations in particular, Pavel Luzin says. Unfortunately the
former have attracted much attention, but the latter almost none.
As a result, the regionalist writer
says, few have noticed that Putin’s call for the creation of “a single system
of public power” has the effect of unifying power at all levels and depriving
local self-administration of autonomy even formally thus restoring the
arrangements that existed in the totalitarian Soviet system (http://region.expert/cadavre/).
It is of course the case, Luzin
acknowledges, that local administration had in fact far less autonomy than the
government proclaimed. The laws governing it did not provide real autonomy to
this level of governance, and it was kept on a very short financial leash by
the regional and republic heads.
And that pattern was made worse starting
in the spring of last year when Moscow ordered the start of a transition from a
two-level system of local self-administration (municipal district and settlement)
to a single one (with only a municipal or city district.) In fact, the analyst suggests, that set the
stage for Putin’s latest moves.
Because of Russian political culture,
Russians “are accustomed to underrating local self-administration,” despite the
fact that “the political role of this institution is extremely great as it is
the foundation of democratic administration.” Even in Soviet times, the authorities
declared this to be true but did everything they could to prevent it from becoming
a reality.
Now, the Russian powers that be have
new reasons for blocking any possibility of real local autonomy. First, even dictatorships need elections to
legitimize their rule and so they want to do everything they can to ensure that
they completely control elections so that no opposition to them will emerge.
Eliminating elected mayors was one
means that the center has used to control the situation, but it can no longer
be as sure as it was during the “fat” years that more or less uncontrolled
elections to local councils won’t lead to the rise of opposition groups within
them and thus to challenges to Moscow. That has already happened in some major
cities.
Consequently, the constitutional
change that Putin has called for in this realm represents “a prevent strike
against the opposition and protest movement.” That is because it means that any
demand for autonomy of local administration can be presented now as an appeal
for “the overthrow of the constitutional system.”
According to Luzin, “the Russian authorities
have had enough of appearing to be usurpers. They want to have the right” to
act as they do.
Second, because neither actions like
the seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea or enormous national projects have the ability
to mobilize Russians as they once did, Moscow wants to make sure that it has
the unquestioned loyalty of elites.
There are nearly a half million employees at the municipal level, and
making them happy will help in that task.
By insisting on a uniform approach,
Moscow can ensure that all their salaries can be raised; and that is no trivial
matter for such people given that at the municipal level up to now salaries are
generally quite low. They will also be
given the psychological encouragement to view themselves as part of a single
power structure rather than being tied only to localities.
And third, what Putin is doing
brings Russia today not only closer to the Soviet model but also to the way
business is done in Belarus and in the two Russian statelets on Ukrainian
territory, the DNR and the LNR. By destroying
local administrative autonomy, Putin makes it easier to consolidate these three
units with his Russia. And that too
likely is among his purposes.
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