Decentralization and Recentralization:Recent Developments in Russian Fiscal Federalism

Abstract

This study represents the third and final report in a three-phase series of reports. In the first phase undertaken under the joint supervision of Professors Robin Boadway and Ronald Watts on behalf of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s University, four studies were undertaken on intergovernmental fiscal relations in Canada, the United States and Germany, the fourth being a comprehensive comparative overview of these three examples. In the second phase, a study of intergovernmental relations in eight further countries was undertaken. The resulting report covered two mature developed federations, Switzerland and Australia, four transitional federations, Brazil, India, South Africa and Spain, and two decentralized unitary systems, Sweden and Japan. That report also included comparative references to the three mature federations covered in the earlier first phase. This current report represents the third and final phase of the project. It is a comparative review of the evolving institutional relationships within the Russian Federation, comparing these to the countries covered in the previous studies.