ABSTRACT
How Russia’s regions are governed determines much about the conditions under which Russian citizens live. Despite the shift toward centralisation of policy-making under Vladimir Putin, regions continue to have a major role in the implementation of a wide range of policies. Regional governance can reinforce changes made at the national level, undermine their significance, or provide an impetus to pursue alternative paths of development. Regional executive leaders remain important figures in the process of governance of the country as a whole. Clear evidence of this is the large amount of “face time” allocated to governors byRussia’s president and prime minister. At the same time, centralisation has dramatically changed the role of regional leaders in the Russian political system.
