Regional parliamentarism in modern Russia: essence and political significance

The paper analyzes modern Russian regional parliamentarism on the basis of a systematic method and determines its actual political role. Its main feature is an active role of the legislative and representative bodies in the political process, its real ability to identify problems and solve them. It is proposed to classify Russian regional parliamentary systems on such grounds as the type of regional legislative bodies, the correlation of political forces, and the formal and informal role of the Parliament in the political life of the regions, including local political customs (specifics). It is concluded that, on the one hand, regional parliamentarism in modern Russia is characterized by increased pressure from the executive power, but, on the other hand, there are a number of functional elements of representation in the political systems of Russian regions and trends in the effective functioning of parliaments are observed. The study identified and characterized two grounds for classifying Russian regions: the type of Parliament of Russian subject and the real importance of Parliament in the process of making political decisions in modern Russia.