The Municipal Legislature in Novosibirsk , 1992 – 95

ystematic study of local politics in the Russian Federation has just begun. As a result, relatively little attention has been devoted to the legislative/representative bodies elected in many Russian cities during the 1990s.1 The following study of these institutions in Novosibirsk, an old industrial city in the geographic center of the Russian Federation, is based on the author’s direct observation and participation in the sessions of the city soviet in the summer of 1992 and of its successor, the city assembly in the summer of 1995. Although this study deals with a single city, it suggests a pattern that was probably characteristic of many Russian cities in the 1990s.