The principal idea of federalism is the diffusion of power from the center to the regions within a common political space. This entails the creation of two relatively autonomous levels of power and decision making – the center and the regions; the codification of their mutual rights and obligations in the form of a constitution, or some other mode of agreement between the constituent units and the center; the settlement of disputes by an arbitrator (a Constitutional Court, for instance); and the adoption of a system of checks and balances (the separation of powers, for example). In short, federalism is based on a power-sharing model of governance.

Therefore, in a narrow sense, a federal structure allows for the accommodation of demands for regional autonomy and self-determination within a common territorial framework. Furthermore, “federalism is also a way of decentralizing conflict and isolating continuous regional issues so that they do not bubble up to disrupt national policies.”

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CENTER AND THE REGIONS IN POST-COMMUNIST RUSSIA

Relations between Moscow and the regions constitute a key element in the contemporary political system. One of the fundamental problems still confronting the Russian Federation is that of the extraordinary complexity of its administrative structure, which tries to accommodate both ethnic and regional diversity. The Russian Federation consists of twenty-one republics based on the ethnic principle; six krais and forty-nine oblasts that are purely territorial in character; ten ethnically based autonomous okrugs (districts); two federal cities, and one autonomous oblast.