This paper provides a comparative analysis of how highly differentiated regions of Russia perform in terms of economic development, public services delivery and overall quality of governance while linking these factors to levels of political support for the current incumbent during the latest presidential electoral campaign in 2018. It introduces the subnational Good Governance Rank to facilitate comparison of distinct regions on a comparable basis.

Additionally, author studies the “economy-state-clientelism” triangle in the modern Russian setting to confirm previous findings from Mexico, Argentina, Cambodia, Germany, United Kingdom and other countries to reveal the typical behavior pattern: politicians favor the poor (because its cheap), citizens favor stalemate (because change is risky) and clientelism coerces and buys (because it’s a time-tested mechanism).