俄羅斯現代史上轉型時期極為重要的理論和實踐問題，就是俄羅斯聯邦制的建立與發展。而俄羅斯社會的經濟、社會和國家政治領域改革的結果，很大程度上取決於聯邦制的順利發展。實際上，整個俄羅斯的命運也取決於俄羅斯聯邦制如何發展。本論文試著釐清兩個問題:第一、在葉爾欽時期，聯邦主體的主權過度擴張，為何在普金時期卻又能將這些權力收回?第二、其決定性因素為何?而此決定性因素又如何地影響聯邦中央和聯邦主體之間的權力拉鋸爭奪?

故本文有兩個重要議題，首先是試著對俄羅斯聯邦制作理論模型建構，再者探討此模型之於俄羅斯聯邦制的適用性。再從此模型觀察整體俄羅斯聯邦制過程，認為聯邦經濟表現與經濟發展程度和聯邦政權合法性，會直接影響聯邦主體向聯邦中央爭取地方分權的意願與實際行動，而聯邦中央也會隨著經濟表現和經濟發展程度的提升，以及聯邦政權合法性的提高，而更加強中央集權的立法與縮減地方主權的措施。這正可以解釋普金時期的領導，即隨著經濟表現亮眼和經濟發展程度提升，促使政府積極對政權合法性的運作，此有助於聯邦政權的提高，相對地削弱葉爾欽時期遺留下的群籓擴權現象，中央再度掌握主控權。

Russia is a federation which, as of March 1, 2008, consists of 83 federal subjects(members of the Federation). One of the extremely important theoretical and practical issues during the process of political transition in Russia’s modern history is the establishment and development of Russian federalism. The results of economic, social and political reform in the Russian society largely depend on the smooth development of federalism. In fact, the whole fate of Russia also depends on the development of Russian federalism. Therefore, this paper attempts to clarify two crucial problems, firstly, in Yeltsin’s Regime, the sovereignty of federal subjects was over- expanded, while Putin can withdraw these powers from the federal subjects without serious struggles and conflicts. Secondly, what are the decisive factors for centralization? And how can the decisive factors affect the stage of power struggles between the central government and the federal subjects?

Thus, this paper tries to handle two main issues. One is to conduct a theoretical model of Russian federalism with the concepts of marginal cost- benefit. The other is to discuss the applicability of this constructed model on the Russian federal system. By observing the whole process of the Russian federal system from this model, this paper finds that the economic development and the legitimacy of the federal government will directly affect the will and strategy of the federal subjects against the federal government for demanding the practical action of decentralization. Relatively, the federal government will reinforce the control of the legislation of centralization and downsize the power of federal subjects, in accompanying with the rapid economic growth and the promotion of the legitimacy of the federal government. This is perfectly workable in Putin’s Regime. With the promising economic performance, the federal government enhanced the operation of legitimacy that is consequently helpful to hold the control of the whole federation.