Abstract
<jats:p>The article offers a socio-philosophical analysis of the evolution of Russian federalism in the post-Soviet peri-od, tracing the transition from significant regional autonomy in the 1990s to the strengthening of a unified sys-tem of public authority after the constitutional amendments of 2020. The analysis focuses on the dialectic of centralization and decentralization, on the theoretical foundations of federalism in the tradition of classical polit-ical philosophy, and on the key contradictions of the modern model – between governance and the preserva-tion of regional diversity. After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian federal structure experienced strong cen-trifugal trends: a “parade of sovereignties”, bilateral treaties with individual regions (including the Republic of Tatarstan), and the actual asymmetry of the statuses of the subjects of the Federation. The reasons are political instability, the weakness of the center, the need for rapid legitimization of the new government in the regions, and economic decentralization. The result is a high variability of regional self-government practices and poor coordination at the federal level. Centralization, which began in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was accompa-nied by institutional transformations: stricter control over regional elites, changes in the procedure for forming the Federation Council, the creation of federal districts with plenipotentiaries, reforms of the right to local self-government and budget alignment. These measures increased the efficiency and predictability of governance, reduced the risks of separatism, but at the same time reduced the degree of regional initiative and institutional autonomy. Amendments of 2020 We have consolidated the priority of the Constitution of the Russian Federa-tion over international acts and confirmed a number of principles of government. In practice, they have strengthened the vertical of power and legitimized the previously established mechanisms of centralization. Not only legal innovations are important, but also political symbols – the renewed legitimization of federal unity in the context of changing global and domestic politics. In this context, philosophical reflection is important not as an abstract discipline, but as a tool for critically re-evaluating political practices and constructing sustainable institutional compromises.</jats:p>