Paper short abstract:

While some progress has been made in analysing and understanding the central government sistema, little is known about the phenomena in the Russian regions. My research attempts to fill this gap by analysing the size and impact of informal governance networks.

Paper long abstract:

The argument about the true nature and categorization of the Russian political regime dates more than a decade back and ranges from illiberal democracy, elective authoritarianism through hybrid regime to virtual democracy or even dictatorship. One of the most accurate concepts describing the mechanics and workings of the Kremlin was conceptualized as sistema, a network-based system of informal governance. In such a setting formal positions, laws and regulations are selectively enforced or meaningless, as they lie at the discretion of power networks. While some progress has been made in analysing and understanding the central government sistema, which sheds some light on co-optation, camouflage and control, the main mechanisms of informal governance. However, little is known about the phenomena in the Russian regions, which is especially salient in provinces without dominant state-owned and Kremlin-affiliated enterprises, like Sverdlovsk oblast. My research attempts to fill this gap by analysing the size and impact of informal governance using data related to state procurement, local officials and business elites such as contract participants, financial declarations and statements. The novelty of my research lies within the combination of highly intangible phenomena nested in informality studies combined with quantitative data collected in the region. By conducting a social network analysis I plan to demonstrate a set of interconnections between politics and business in the region, to empirically confirm the existence of sistema along with practical ways of its detection.