Defining
Russian
Federalism. By Elizabeth Pascal. Westport,
CT: Praeger, 2003. 224p. $74.95.
The rise of Russia's regions became one of the big stories that
followed the collapse of Soviet communism. After decades of submission
in a highly centralized and authoritarian system, resurgent regions
emerged as autonomous actors, threatening the territorial integrity and
political stability of the newly independent Russian state. With the
notable exception of Chechnya, Russia's regions eventually were
reintegrated with the center, but on the basis of an asymmetrical
federal system. Elizabeth Pascal's book examines the process that
led to this uneven territorial distribution of power in post-Soviet
Russia.
