Power institutions in Tomsk Region: political and legal analysis

The article presents an analysis of features of the structural organization and functioning of the political power in Tomsk Region in 2006-2011. Regulatory legal acts and other official documents of the region, as well as periodicals materials, are investigated. At the heart of research is R.F. Turovsky's technique, according to which in studying the institutional design of the power in the Russian regions it is necessary to concentrate on interaction of governors with legislative assemblies, local governments and territorial bodies of federal departments. Though the Charter of Tomsk Region provides various mechanisms of parliamentary control over executive power, these norms do not work in practice. But the governor has a set of real possibilities of influence on the work of the regional parliament. The right of a legislative initiative of the Governor of Tomsk Region and his control over the United Russia Party faction in the Legislative Duma is one of the most used opportunities of such influence. The head of the region dominates over the bodies of the local government. The proofs are experiences of introduction of the post of city manager in large municipalities and establishment of real control of the governor over election of the mayor of Tomsk. For a long time the governor influenced the process of appointment of heads of federal bodies in the area thus securing their loyalty. Only in the second half of the 2000s this influence was lost. Since then law enforcement agencies of the region became one of the means of federal control strengthening over the area and Tomsk elite. The relations with the federal level of power are the main factor of region's condition and development. In search of the reasons of high stability of the regional power in the article special attention is paid to numerous advisory and coordinating bodies by the Governor and legislative assembly of the region. They are the Council of Public Initiatives (Sovet obtshestvennyh iniciativ), Youth Parliament (Molodezhny parlament), Public Chamber (Obtshestvennaya palata), Council of Municipalities (Sovet municipal'nyh obra-zovaniy), and tens of interdepartmental commissions, coordination councils and committees. Their activity allows to coordinate interests of various groups outside the legitimate representative bodies and to correct the political agenda. Such bodies can provide for the needs of official power institutions to communicate within the structure and get feedback from regional community thus partially replacing public policy. The conclusion is drawn on insufficiency of official documents as the empirical basis of research of regional policy.

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