The Expenditure Policy Strategies of Municipal Authorities in Russia

Russian political system is characterized by being highly centralized. It is based on maintaining “patron-client” relations, which implies the dependence of the actors at each territorial level on the higher authorities. However, since local government is better connected with local communities, municipal authorities are not only agents in relations with federal and regional governments, but turn out to be an important part of the system. Municipal authorities are capable to implement their own strategies for maintaining local social and political stability by planning expenditures of budgets on social needs of the population. However, some areas of the country are more socially oriented in terms of the distribution of municipal budgets, while others adhere to the optimization policy. The objective of this research was to determine the factors that determine the choice of expenditure policy strategies by municipal authorities in different regions of Russia. With the use of statistical methods, it was proved that electoral business cycles and the federal policy towards the governors determine the expenditure policy of municipal authorities.