Have Putin's Policies on Local Government Changed the Way Yaroslavl Is Governed?

Abstract

Since 1990, the city of Yaroslavl, Russia, has provided me with a unique window for observing post-Communist Russia.1 One of the advantages of watching the changes in post-Communist Russia through the microcosm of this city is that it is not Moscow or St. Petersburg. Moscow and St. Petersburg are the centers of political life in Russia where the reforms are made; Yaroslavl is a small city beyond Moscow's direct jurisdiction where those reforms are implemented. Moscow and St. Petersburg are cosmopolitan and ethnically heterogeneous; Yaroslavl is overwhelmingly ethnically Russian. Most important, perhaps, the pace of life moves more slowly in Yaroslavl, allowing one to see the effects of the rapid changes initiated in Moscow in more nuanced detail.I have visited Yaroslavl more than a dozen times. I first went in the spring of 1990, when perestroika was already being felt. I was one of a team of American specialists on Russia who were among the first to observe the workings of regional politics in Soviet Russia firsthand and to conduct interviews with local officials.2 I conducted survey research on political attitudes among a fully representative sample of the population in March 1990. The survey research project coincided with the first truly competitive elections in Russia. I observed the Yaroslavtsy as they came to the polls to choose their city, regional, and national deputies. The survey research was replicated in 1993, 1996, and 2004, allowing a longitudinal view of changes in public opinion about political and economic reform.3 My repeat visits enabled me to view the evolution of Yaroslavl's political institutions. Because what I was observing was unfolding on a smaller stage, I could see more easily what changes occurred from one year to the next. Yaroslavl became my prism. Many of the results of my research from 1990 to 2000 appeared in Regional Russia in Transition: Studies from Yaroslavl', which was published in 2001.4In this article, I assess how Yaroslavl's political institutions have changed since 2000 and compare those changes with the transformations that took place between 1990 and 1993 and those that followed the post-1993 constitutional order. The timing is propitious in that May 2008 marked the end of Vladimir Putin's second term as Russia's president. Therefore, I examine the impact that his leadership has had on local government in Yaroslavl and how Yaroslavl's city government changed between 2000 and 2008, when Putin was president. I also explore the impact Yaroslavl's municipal government has had on the life of its inhabitants. How important are decisions taken by the city's government and has its role increased or decreased? Are politics in Yaroslavl more determined locally or by the central government's efforts to assert control?To investigate these questions, I begin by examining the initial transformation of Yaroslavl's political institutions between 1990 and 1993. I then examine the new institutions that were introduced following the abolition of the Yaroslavl city soviet, or council, in October 1993. Next, I offer a picture of Yaroslavl's government on the eve of Putin's ascendency as Russia's president in 2000. I also briefly discuss the 2003 Russian Law on Local Self-Government and assess its impact on Yaroslavl's municipal government. Finally, to evaluate the impact of Yaroslavl's city government on the life of the city, I analyze the long-term General Plan that the city government adopted in 2006. Information relevant to these questions was gathered during an October 2007 visit to Yaroslavl.The First Transformation: 1990-93Before the March 1990 elections, Yaroslavl was governed in the same manner as all other Russian cities during the Soviet era. In elections devoid of competition, deputies to the city soviet's 200 seats were elected in direct popular elections held every two-and-onehalf years. At the first session after their election, the deputies would select an ispolkom (executive committee) from among their members. …