Igor Okunev, Petr Oskolkov

This volume delves into a key part of the comprehensive Russian administrative and territorial reform of the 2000s—the merger of six previously separate ethno-national regions into larger constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It deals with the accession of the Komi-Permyak, Taymyr Dolgano-Nenets, Evenk, Agin-Buryat, and Koryak Autonomous Okrugs to the Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Zabaykalsky, and Kamchatka Krais, and of the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug to the Irkutsk Oblast. In both management practice and mass media, the largely similar unifications were treated as unrelated initiatives emerging from inside the regions. The center did initially not offer a common institutional model of integration. The regions had to come up with individual formulas dealing with the merged districts. After the reform had slowed down, it turned out that the annexed territories had only in name obtained special statuses which are not backed by administrative or financial resources. The book addresses specialists in the fields of Russian studies, comparative federalism, and ethnic politics. It makes an especially important reading because it describes and thoroughly analyzes the unique deautonomization case in an ethnic federation. Additional contributors to this volume are Maria Tislenko, Emma Bibina, and Rostislav Shilovsky (all MGIMO University).

Dr Igor Okunev studied Intercultural Communication at Saint Petersburg State University and History at Manchester University. He is Director of the Center for Spatial Analysis in International Relations, MGIMO University. His previous books include Political Geography (Peter Lang 2021), Basics of Spatial Analysis (Aspect Press 2020), and Capital Cities in Critical Geopolitics Mirror (Aspect Press 2017). Dr Petr Oskolkov studied Political Science at Moscow. He is Head of the Center for the Studies of Ethnic Politics at the Institute of Europe (Russian Academy of Sciences) and Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics, MGIMO University. His previous books include Essays on Ethnic Politics (Aspect Press 2021) and Right-Wing Populism in the European Union (Institute of Europe Press 2019).

"There is one common thread throughout the work – and I agree with the authors’ conclusion here – and that is that the people in the autonomous okrugs affected by the changes wanted special consideration from the government, but instead disappeared from the federal agenda altogether. Clearly, Russia’s regions are extremely diverse, which makes it almost impossible to adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach to dealing with them." Sardana Avksentyeva, 8th State Duma Deputy and 2018-21 Mayor of Yakutsk