Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name:Kazenin Konstantin
Author-Name-First: Konstantin 
Author-Name-Last:Kazenin 
Author-Workplace-Name: Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy 
Title: Local self-government in the North Caucasus: alterations in regional  legislation as risk triggers
Abstract: One of the vectors of change in the North Caucasus in 2015 was the abolition of direct popular vote in the elections of heads of municipal formations. Very few of the municipal districts, urban districts, urban-type and rural settlements across the North Caucasus are still applying the system of forming the bodies of local self-government (LSG) that envisages that the head of a given administrative entity should be elected by direct popular vote. The most drastic changes in this respect occurred in 2015 in the Republic of Dagestan, where new legislation was adopted whereby a uniform method for forming the bodies of LSG was introduced for the entire region, when only the deputies of rural settlement and urban district assemblies are elected directly by popular vote. That region can serve as an illustration of how the ‘rolling back’ of direct popular elections to LSG is fraught with significant risks, and so cannot be regarded as a stabilizing factor. 
Classification-JEL: H11, H70, H77
Keywords:  Russian economy, North Caucasus
Creation-Date: 2016
Revision-Date:2016
Publication-Status: Published in RUSSIAN ECONOMY IN 2015  TRENDS AND OUTLOOKS  (ISSUE 37)
Length: 7 pages
File-URL: https://www.iep.ru/files/RePEc/gai/ppaper/ppaper-2016-241.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Function: Revised version, 2016
Handle: RePEc:gai:ppaper:ppaper-2016-241