Direct democracy development in Russia at the regional and municipal levels

Abstract

The article analyzes the features of the development of direct democracy institutions in the North Caucasus constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It is shown how, in response to the needs of local and regional communities in democratic institutions, direct democracy procedures emerge, either not regulated by the current legislation or allowing formal disagreement with the current legislation based on the consensus of society and municipal and regional authorities, which until recently has been absolutely impossible due to the extreme formalism and dogmatism of Russian public law. The paper provides a general analysis of the state of federal and regional legislation governing the elections, referendums, and other forms of direct democracy. The main attention is focused on comprehending new trends in direct democracy at the regional and municipal levels on the basis of several North Caucasian cases that show the potential for the democratic changes based on the synthesis of the traditions of highly conservative North Caucasian communities and new democratic technologies for Russia, including the participatory democracy procedures and the procedure of primaries