Chaos in Russian budgeting as a product of institutional design: The failure of unlinked dual-channel institutions

Chaos in the Russian federal budget process is largely a product of institutional design. Both the Russian State Duma and the Russian executive branch are unlinked dual-channel institutions. Such institutions are particularly ill-designed for the task of creating, adopting and implementing consistent policy, most notably on the budget. The strange design of Russia's legislative and executive institutions impedes conflict management and consensus building. Ultimately, it impeded the consolidation of democracy. This article elaborates the pitfalls of Russia's institutions for the budget process and suggests simple design changes that could substantially alleviate those problems.