The Case of “New Moscow”: Metropolisation as a Chance for Local Government System?

P. 345–356.

Chernenko O.

In July 2014 amendment to the Federal Law #131-FZ dated on October, 3, 2003 “On the general principles of the organization of the local self-government system in the Russian Federation” set out a typology of municipal formations for urban areas. For designing a new model two legal practices were used: the procedure of forming representative body of municipal district without municipal elections and the organization of LSG in federal cities. From 2003 till 2014 only two cities in RF had internal city entities with the status of local authorities – Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. The cities have the status of the subjects of the Russian federation. In comparison to other subjects Moscow and Saint-Petersburg have the additional competence in terms of establishing the financial basis and organizational structure of local authorities by regional acts in accordance with the federal legislation. The reason for this was the necessity to manage the city economy as a whole and to avoid its fragmentation. No other Russian cities (in spite of the territory
and even with more than one million populations) had the same structure. The extension of Moscow capital city territory was realized by accession of some municipalities of the Moscow region (Moscovskaya oblast’). In accordance with the federal legislation their competence was broader than those of Moscow local municipalities. The organizational structure, competence and financing are the milestones of any LSG system. Thus, the balance and coherence between “New Moscow” and “Old Moscow” municipalities will be seen through these characteristics.

Keywords: public opinion, local self-government, urban districts, competence, Moscow city region, Formation of local authorities, Intracity territories

In book

Metropolisation, Regionalisation and Rural Intermunicipal Cooperation.

Vol. 8: Collection Kultura. , Institut Universitaire Varenne, 2018.