Russia Before the Storm: More Politics, Less Stability

Nikolay Petrov Policy Outlook March 7, 2011
Summary
Putin’s Russia—which raised living standards, increased political apathy, and led to sovereign democracy—is over. As parliamentary and presidential elections approach, long-simmering social, economic, and political disputes are spilling into the open, and public politics are returning to the fore.
Related Media and Tools
 
  • Email

As Russia’s parliamentary and presidential elections approach, long-simmering social, economic, and political disputes are spilling into the open, and public politics are returning to the fore. Uncertainty about the country’s future is also increasing, prompting both people and capital to flee the country. In a new Briefing, Nikolay Petrov highlights the challenges facing Russia and finds the country moving away from the policies that have governed it for the last decade.  

Key Findings: 

  • Few political choices: The parliamentary elections this year—which feature back-room bargaining and electoral tricks—are laying the groundwork for the presidential election in 2012, with President Dmitry Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin likely to be “coronated.”
     
  • Limited modernization: By returning to its “old ways” of divvying up earnings from natural resources, Russia’s political class is adopting a political and economic model that will leave large portions of the country’s economy, as well as and political sphere, untouched by modernization.
     
  • Forced dialogue: Russian authorities respond to the public only when faced with mass protests. The interaction between the authorities and society remain deinstitutionalized and the former do not make use of event the institutions they themselves created, whether the “proper” political parties or the Public Chamber. Instead, they search for ad-hoc, rather than systematic, solutions to address problems that arise.

Petrov argues that Putin’s Russia—which raised living standards, increased political apathy, and led to sovereign democracy—is over. Whatever era comes next, regardless of who is president, it will inevitably be very different.

Source: http://carnegie.ru/2011/03/07/russia-before-storm-more-politics-less-stability/eqer

More from The Global Think Tank

In Fact

 

70%

of oil consumed in the United States

is for the transportation sector.

20%

of Chechnya’s pre-1994 population

has fled to different parts of the world.

58%

of oil consumed in China

was from foreign sources in 2012.

32

million cases pending

in India’s judicial system.

20

million people killed

in Cold War conflicts.

18%

of the U.S. economy

is consumed by healthcare.

$536

billion in goods and services

traded between the United States and China in 2012.

$100

billion in foreign investment and oil revenue

have been lost by Iran because of its nuclear program.

4700%

increase in China’s GDP per capita

between 1972 and today.

$11

billion have been spent

to complete the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran.

2%

of Iran’s electricity needs

is all the Bushehr nuclear reactor provides.

82

new airports

are set to be built in China by 2015.

78

journalists

were imprisoned in Turkey as of August 2012 according to the OSCE.

67%

of the world's population

will reside in cities by 2050.

16

million Russian citizens

are considered “ethnic Muslims.”

Stay In The Know

Enter your email address in the field below to receive the latest Carnegie analysis in your inbox!

Personal Information
 
 
Carnegie Moscow Center
 
16/2 Tverskaya Moscow, 125009 Russia
Phone: +7 495 935-8904 Fax: +7 495 935-8906
Please note...

You are leaving the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy's website and entering another Carnegie global site.

请注意...

你将离开清华—卡内基中心网站,进入卡内基其他全球中心的网站。