Issue № 35. December 2012

Legal Asymmetry in the Territorial Structure of a State: Theory and Practice

Ph.D., associate professor, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
E-mail: leksin@spa.msu.ru

The article deals with the modern legal issues of regional asymmetry. The author shows dialectical interrelation of symmetry and asymmetry in the territorial structure of a state. Firstly, usage of formally equal abilities may naturally result in achieving differentiated legal statuses. Secondly, inequality of citizens can be accompanied by legal symmetry of the regions, while regional asymmetry can become the basis of legal and social equality. The author considers the following issues of territorial asymmetry in contemporary Russia: the differences in constitutional statuses of constituent units of the Russian Federation; justification for having territories excluded from constituent units of the Russian Federation or from municipalities; specific status of territorial entities created after liquidation of six autonomous okrugs in 2005–2008. The analysis leads to the following conclusions. Firstly, asymmetry in constitutional statuses of constituent units of the Russian Federation does not exclude their equality declared in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Secondly, equality of autonomous okrugs with the oblasts does not conflict with the superposition of their territorial jurisdictions, but causes practical difficulties in making political and legal decisions and in their implementation. Thirdly, the problem of inequality of the republics with the other constituent units of the Russian Federation can be considered legally settled. Fourthly, the Constitution of the Russian Federation does not forbid creation of federal territories. Fifthly, lack of the municipality status does not prevent a local community from exercising self-government. Sixthly, the declared special status of territorial entities created after liquidation of the autonomous okrugs has no effective legal backing, and therefore becomes a matter of political discretion.

Keywords

Asymmetry, symmetry, territorial structure, territorial entity, federal state, autonomy, region.