Unfulfilled part of the post-Soviet development storyline in “center - region” relations

The author argues that during the post-soviet period Russia did not suffer several discrete crises, as it is usually reflected in scientific publications, but has been remaining in the state of a permanent crisis. This approach predetermines a cardinal assessment of the results of systemic transformations in the country in a single time space, which is the basis for reliability in characterization and assessment of the author’s achievement of the goal and objectives of the study, i.e. determination of the role of relations between the center and the regions as the focus of systemic transformations and explanation of approaches to their improvement. In the paper, the characteristics and comparisons of two models “regions - center” and “center - regions” take place. The first and second models vary in the priorities of political and economic roles of the regions and the center in the strategies of post-Soviet development in the first and in the following two decades, respectively. It was stated that due to insufficient development of the culture of democracy, the first version of the strategy is fraught with a real threat of centrifugal aspirations of the regions, the loss of territorial integrity of the country. The development according to the second option led to restoration of the institution of centralization of political and economic management in the worst version in comparison with the Soviet era and the reset of the original systemic ideological plot of development of a new social pattern according to the principles of political and economic democratization. This situation has led to the loss by the regions of the opportunity for self-development, lagging behind in the social and economic development of Russia and to a predetermined stagnation and degradation. In the conclusion, the results are presented and approaches to the elimination of the negative aspects of the model of relations “center - region” are given, based on the transformation of relations between the center and the regions to a qualitatively different level involving the coordination of interests on a market basis.