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  • The Policy Competition Impact on the Activities of Municipal Authorities in an Authoritarian Regime after the 2019 Election in Saint Petersburg

The Policy Competition Impact on the Activities of Municipal Authorities in an Authoritarian Regime after the 2019 Election in Saint Petersburg

Student: Grishchuk Irina

Supervisor: Dmitry V. Goncharov

Faculty: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences

Educational Programme: Comparative Politics of Eurasia (Master)

Year of Graduation: 2020

The study is devoted to the analysis of municipal governance in an authoritarian regime. The paper highlights the theoretical understanding of the governance model in modern Russia and indicates the form of public demand for political freedoms through the activities of opposition parties. The latter leads to the fact that in 2019 there is a non-standard situation of increased political competition in the hybrid regime. On the example of St. Petersburg, the patterns of local politics that emerged after the 2019 municipal elections are highlighted. Namely, pro-regime municipalities, pro-opposition municipalities and municipalities with predominant equality of political forces. The research focus is on opposition cases, assuming that competition is more likely to lead to institutional changes in the political decision-making process and the effectiveness of municipal governance. There are two main vectors of change: the first is procedural, that is, there are innovations in the tools and mechanisms for exercising power, making decisions and implementing them. The second vector is performance. The main indicators are budget issues, the nature of municipal hearings. The paper analyzes the mechanisms for the implementation of the political course of local importance in the municipalities of St. Petersburg, as part of an authoritarian modernization project. The author examines the practice of municipal management in the public sector, as well as some practices of interaction with the population in the form of public hearings. Positive shifts towards institutional change are seen in opposition municipalities. However, barriers have also been identified that lead this development to the short term and require deep and structural changes over a longer period of time.

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