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This paper examines the impact of new business actors (foreign direct investment, Russian big business, and small business) on the emergence of rule of law in five Russian regions. These business actors generally have an interest in fostering rule of law and could be expected to exert influence over regional government as they become larger tax payers to regional budgets and generate more jobs. The research shows that there are problems linking business demands for rule of law (to the extent that they exist) to actual policy because of Russia’s tax system and the inability of the business community to build a sufficient coalition of business actors. Preliminary, anecdotal results suggest that there has been little improvement in the rule of law situation in the regions under study, though further research is necessary for more conclusive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]