Under Control: Regional Leaders in Turbulent Times

The paper investigates the specificity of regional leadership in multilevel system of contemporary Russia. The regional elite in Russia is one of the most important components of the stability of the political system. Due to the peculiarities of the federal structure of the Russian Federation (also including the scale of the territory), the regional leader is one of the key links in the successful implementation of socio-political and economic reforms in the regions. Contemporary political system of Russia with minor changes has existed more than 20 years, demonstrating stability. Throughout this period two trends dominated. On the one hand, the trend towards centralization of power was obvious and, as a result, the strengthening of authoritarian methods of governance. On the other hand, democratic institutions formed in the early 1990s continued to function. The combination of democratic practices with rigid authoritarian control led to the formation of hybrid forms of power institutions. Over the years of the formation of political institutions in modern Russia, a compensatory mechanism has been developed in the form of social assistance programs, additional payments, coercive methods of pressure, control of the regions through the "vertical of power" system. Crisis of February 2022 provoked uncontrolled changes of the political regime and the system of regional leadership. Today manageability and control of political processes have become paramount priorities. Regional leaders and current governors have found themselves in a rather complex system of inter-institutional relations. A major focus of the research is placed on changes in the system of Governor’s corps after February 2022. The paper has three parts: the first part analyzes the main components of authoritarian practices in modern Russia, the reasons for the strengthening of authoritarian tendencies after February of 2022, as well as their impact on the system of regional leadership. The second part presents an analysis of the current governor’s corps. The third part discusses the changes the principles of forming the corps of governors.