Originally from:
The Journal of Eurasian Law (JEL) - 2008 Vol. 2 No. 2
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Path Dependence in Russian Land Relations:
An Analysis of Recent Legislation through an
Historical Perspective
R. Jerome Anderson∗
Igor A. Rumyantsev†
Larisa G. Sudas§
From the property right to the land
we still shall agree, but the land we shall not give.
(From a conversation with a high official
of the Land Committee, 1999)
Introduction
One of the earliest steps in the transformation of Russia’s socialist
economy was the privatization of real property. Even before the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, laws were enacted in the Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic (now the Russian Federation) that opened the way to
private ownership of land and other real property. With the dissolution of
the Soviet Union in December 1991, decrees, resolutions and laws were
promulgated and enacted in the Russian Federation that gradually expanded
rights of private ownership. The culmination of these legal developments
was the Russian Constitution of 1993.1 This document gave constitutional
status to private property ownership, a radical change not only from the
Soviet economic system but also from the historical Russian approach to
property relations.
R. Jerome Anderson, JD, Duquesne University; PhD, Newcastle University. Member of the Pennsylvania Bar. Senior Legal and Land Policy Advisor, Millennium Challenge Corporation Access to Land Project, implemented by Stewart Global Solutions, Cotonou, Bénin. Affiliated with the Global Urban Research Unit, Newcastle University.
Igor A. Rumyantsev, PhD, Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences. Advisor and project manager, international land reform projects.
Larisa G. Sudas, Doctor of Science in Philosophy, Moscow State University. Professor of Sociology, Faculty of State Administration, Moscow State University.