Niches of agency: managing state-region relations through law in Russia. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fondahl, Gail; Filippova, Viktoriya; Savvinova, Antonina; Ivanova, Aytalina; Stammler, Florian; Hoogensen Gjørv, Gunhild
• Is Part Of: Space & polity. Volume 23:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 66
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Law -- centre-region relations -- territory -- Russia -- Yakutia -- indigenous; Political geography -- Periodicals; Regionalism -- Periodicals; Decentralization in government -- Periodicals; Nationalism -- Periodicals; 320.1205
• DOI: 10.1080/13562576.2019.1594752
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1356-2576

Abstract

ABSTRACT: State-region relations involve negotiations over the power to (re)-constitute local spaces. While in federal states, power-sharing ostensibly gives regions a role over many space-making decisions, power asymmetries affect this role. Where centralization trends may erode regional agency, law can provide an important tool by which regions can assert influence. We examine a case where, in response to a proposed Russian federal law highly unpopular with a regional population, the region's government sought to ameliorate its potential impacts by using opportunities to co-produce the law, amending regional legislation, and strategically implementing other federal and regional laws to protect its territory.