Dialectics of Centralization and Decentralization of Governance in the USSR and Modern Russia

The examination of the evolution and modernization of the governance system of socialist industry and, in particular, the alternation of its centralized and decentralized forms within the command system will make it possible to understand the reasons for the rise and fall of the Soviet economic system, as well as the resulting difficulties of the modern stage of the country’s development. In this regard, the aim of this article is to investigate the causes and factors influencing the transition between centralized and decentralized governance in the USSR and transitional Russia. This study involved a review of literature detailing the most notable periods of centralization, such as the industrialization in the USSR (1928–1937) and the state reforms of the 2000s in the Russian Federation, as well as periods of decentralization, including the establishment of local People’s Commissariats of governance (1953–1964) and the market reforms of the 1990s. The research was based on the works of both domestic and international scholars. The analysis revealed a systemic need for alternating waves of centralized and decentralized governance. Using the examples of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, the article delineates the main phases of governance transition, economic indicators, and the factors influencing these processes.