Regionalization in Russia: An Uncertain Future.

MOSCOW (Russia); RUSSIA

The number of Moscow experts who look at regionalization benignly, or at least with acquiescence, is surpassed by the number of those who are alarmed by this process. Many experts suggest that regionalization in its Russian form will significantly impede economic progress, reduce the free flow of capital and labor and will provide local bureaucrats with the power to control business much more tightly than Moscow. Regionalization in Russia is part of a world-wide trend that can be labeled particularization. It is the antithesis of the universalism that has dominated western politics since the late Middle Ages. Pessimists in Russia also imagine regional alliances directed against Moscow that descend from science fiction into Russian reality. They raise questions about the ability of regional leaders to guarantee the safety of nuclear power stations, chemical plants and oil pipe lines. For them, regionalization will hardly serve the population since its beneficiaries will be regional elites and mafias.