Gating in Russia: Exit into Private Communities, and Implications for Governance

P. 27–49.

Polishchuk L., Шарыгина Ю. А.

Gated communities are increasingly popular and visible in Russia, and the Russian experience with gating highlights heretofore little noticed causes and consequences of private communities in general. It shows that gating could be a social response to governance failures, when a society is unable to ensure government accountability and instead local communities take matters in their own hands. Such outcome reflects cultural traits in the society which preclude a “voice” response to governance failures and instead prompt apolitical “exit” into private communities. We argue that there is bilateral causality between gated communities and democratic accountability, so that dysfunctional municipal governance and private communities feed upon each other.

Keywords: governance, private communities, gating

Publication based on the results of: Institutions and Society as Development Factors (2016)

In book

Private Communities and Urban Governance. Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives

Springer, 2016.