This article aims to explain the tenure of incumbent governors in Russia studying what conditions have accounted for their reappointment and dismissal in the period of 2008–12. Qualitative comparative analysis of 32 cases reveals that the ability of incumbent governors to deliver high voting results at national elections has not been necessary for their reappointment. In turn, low economic performance of the regions was one of the sufficient conditions accounting for gubernatorial reappointment, while regions’ high economic performance was one of the sufficient conditions leading to their dismissal. These results suggest that instead of prioritizing governors’ political loyalty over regions’ economic performance, President Medvedev replaced incumbents in Russia’s wealthiest regions, regardless of their performance, in order to establish federal control there.
This paper studies the signing of bilateral treaties between the federal and regional governments of Russia in the period of 1994–1998. Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 64 cases suggests that by signing bilateral treaties in exchange for political support President Yeltsin built a broad coalition with subnational leaders. This strategy allowed Yeltsin to win the 1996 presidential election but, in the long run, contributed to the preservation of authoritarian enclaves in Russia. The results are in line with the argument that authoritarian consolidation in Russia during the 2000s was deeply embedded in the center-region relations of the 1990s.
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