A Comparative Legal Analysis of the Regulation of Regional Legislative Bodies in the Russian Federation: the Case of Novosibirsk Region

Contemporary developments in regional parliamentarism in the Russian Federation are characterized by the increasing institutional complexity of legislative bodies at the regional level, accompanied by the growing federal standardization of the legal framework governing their activities. This relationship raises the issue of determining the actual scope of regional legislative autonomy and the interaction between federal and regional levels of legal regulation. The article presents a comparative legal analysis of the regulatory framework governing the activities of the Legislative Assembly of Novosibirsk Region from 1994 to 2024. By comparing different editions of the Charter and Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Assembly, the author demonstrates that the expansion of formal powers and increasing procedural complexity have been accompanied by the growing dependence of the regional legislative body on the federal center. The article introduces the concept of “incorporative regional parliamentarism” as a model in which institutional complexity develops not through an expansion of the region’s autonomous law-making capacity, but through its integration into federally established standards for the organization of public authority. Novosibirsk Region is examined as a representative case whose institutional dynamics may be reproduced in other regions without special constitutional or political status. The article formulates de lege ferenda proposals aimed at establishing a substantive definition of parliamentarism at the federal level, restoring a direct representative link between deputies and voters, reducing barriers to institutions of direct democracy, and expanding the autonomous law-making competence of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

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