PROBLEMS IN REPRODUCTION OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BODIES IN RUSSIA: POLITICAL IMPERATIVE

The article considers the reproduction of power within the local government bodies, which function as civil society institutions in accordance with the constitutional provisions. The article argues that the process of the reproduction of the local government bodies falls under control of the regional executive bodies and is facilitated by the City Manager – a form of city government borrowed from the American political practice – that is nevertheless regarded in the USA as "not democratic"; by the shortcomings in the electoral legislation affecting the fundamental principles of the elections; by the use of a proportional electoral system that politicizes the local government; by maintaining the economic insufficiency of the local government bodies using strict regulation of the tax system by the federal legislation, forfeiture of their property in the privatization process, and transfer of unfunded authority; and by encouraging the public paternalistic consciousness based on the idea of a supreme suzerain. With the help of the abovementioned methods, the state restrains the civil potential of local government bodies, preserves monocentric political structure, and therefore makes the local government bodies "the weakest link" in the control mechanism. The article points out the lack of opportunity for the citizens to influence the size and structure of the local government bodies due to the fact that these are regulated by the federal state. This fact increases the gap between the local authorities and population, and becomes instrumental in building these institutions of civil society into the “power vertical” structure. The monocentrism of Russian policy leads to the significant overloads within the local government, which might cause institutional and functional deformation of the Russian political system.

Special attention is drawn to the fact that a significant role in the reproduction of power within the Russian local government bodies is played by manipulative mechanisms based on the indivisibility of political consciousness of the Russian citizens, who traditionally do not regard the local government as a civil institution.

This study has used historical materialist, systemic, structural-functional, sociological, formal-legal, comparative research methods and approaches.