Authoritarian state-driven regionalism before and after the war: the case of the Russian Far East

This paper examines Moscow's policy toward the Russian Far East through the lens of authoritarian state-driven regionalism (ASDR) – a policy that is pursued by the central government regarding subnational regions. ASDR is notable for its top-down and state-centric nature, as the centre designs institutions, determines the allocation of funds, and also controls the outcomes to secure authoritarian regime survival. While the development of the Far East was declared a national priority in 2013, the 2022 war against Ukraine transformed this policy into an imperative for overcoming Russia’s international isolation. I argue that despite centralized mobilization to pursue ASDR, authoritarian state capacity has clear limitations in generating sustainable regional modernization in the Far East. The analysis focuses on three types of constraints to Russia’s ASDR: domestic (centre-regional relations in a personalist regime), external (excessive reliance on China), and structural (distance, territorial size, and regional disparities).