Julia Baumann, M.A.
Research project (dissertation)
How do opposition actors contest local elections under the conditions of electoral authoritarianism? Evidence from contemporary Russia
Over the past two decades, electoral competition in Russia has declined at the national and regional levels. Yet municipal elections have displayed a comparatively higher degree of competitiveness, such as those held in Moscow in 2017 and during the 2019 United Voting Day. In some localities, the number of candidates has risen, and non-dominant political forces have achieved notable electoral gains, despite the persistence of systematic restrictions, administrative interference, and limited media access.
This dissertation examines the factors that enable opposition actors to succeed in subnational elections under electoral authoritarianism. Adopting a qualitative case study design and employing process tracing, it analyzes the 2020 city council elections in four regional capitals – Oryol, Nizhny Novgorod, Tomsk, and Vladimir. The research draws on a diverse set of sources, including semi-structured interviews, local media reports, campaign materials, and social media debates, to examine how the interplay between local context factors and the oppositions’ strategic choices affects electoral outcomes.
Overall, the dissertation seeks to deepen our understanding of local political processes in Russia and, more general, of subregional elections in electoral autocracies.
