With the weakening of the party chain of command after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, de facto decentralization in Russia outpaced the limited legal autonomy that was provided to regions and local governments. Lavrov, Litwack and Sutherland (in Chapter 9) examine the experience during the past decade and draw lessons, based on proposals of the Russian government as well as research conducted by the OECD. The paper juxtaposes the substantial degree of the de facto control by the central government against the effectively decentralized reality on the ground.