Territorial Reform in a Rut.

(From The Moscow Times)

The perception of bureaucracies as inherently conservative and inert is common, but mistaken. Bureaucracies welcome change because they tend to grow as a result, sprouting new departments. At the same time, they are particularly adept at destroying whatever they are supposed to be reforming. Now, when almost nothing remains to reform in Russia, the state machine has decided to put its own house in order. Administrative reform is the latest buzz word in the Kremlin and the White House -- and of late there has been a lot of talk about reform of the country's territorial units.

This idea is nothing new. Russia's administrative districts are too small to be practical, and they do not match economic reality. The territorial-administrative division of the country today is not all that different from what it was in imperial Russia. The tsarist gubernia and the Soviet oblast were drawn with an eye to facilitating centralized rule. Every major city received the status of regional capital and served as the control center for nearby towns and rural areas. The exception was Siberia, whose vast expanses and scattered population made it impossible to carve out small administrative units. In the Soviet era, new administrative units defined along ethnic lines also appeared.

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We look forward to hearing from you.Email the Opinion Page EditorIn a federal state, this political geography performs about as well as a steam engine in a Formula 1 car. When Soviet districts became "federal subjects" -- the official term for Russia's 89 regions -- they proved economically too weak to stand on their own. In nearly every region, a conflict arose between the mayor of the largest city and the governor. Local elites, forced to feed at a very small trough, turned into the equivalent of feudal clans, jealously guarding their domains.