| This dissertation seeks to explain variation in democratic governance in the Russian Federation, in particular, difference in the levels of democratic governance between the northwestern and the southern regions of Russia that are included in the regional dimensions of the European Union foreign policy: the Northern Dimension and the Black Sea Synergy, respectively. Emphasizing a dynamic relationship among regional governance patterns in the EU-Russia regional cooperation and energy domains, regional ethno-cultural, historical, geopolitical, and economic contexts, and regional decision-making processes, it develops a model of sub-national democratic development and sub-national regionalism that links regional sustainable development and democratic governance to the multi-dimensionality of the external and internal pressures that shape and influence the behavior and strategic actions of regional actors and predetermine the configuration of relationships among them. The propositions of the model are tested empirically using both quantitative (econometric analysis of longitudinal data and longitudinal network analysis) and qualitative (interview data) methods. The findings of the analyses have implications for our understanding of sub-national regionalism in the Wider Europe and for the study of democratization and regional development more generally. |
