Soft authoritarianism is defined as “political control in
which a combination of formal and informal mechanisms ensure the dominance of a
ruling group or dominant party, despite the existence of some forms of political
competition” (Kesselman, Krieger, and Joseph, 340). Some scholars have assessed that Russia has
fallen under the category of “soft authoritarianism” since 2008, “when Putin
became prime minister” while also being elected as chairperson of the United
Russia political party (Kesselman, Krieger, and Joseph, 356) .
The Russian government structure is not vastly different
from the United States. The legislative
branch is comprised of an upper and lower house, better known as the State Duma
and the Federation Council. While the
State Duma, or Lower House, is “chosen by direct election”, the Federation
Council, or Upper House, have members “appointed by heads of regional executive
and representative organs” and this is one factor contributing to the “soft
authoritarianism” label applied to the United Russia party.
Another factor can be found in the link between president
and prime minister. The president appoints the prime minister
“with the approval of the lower house of the parliament (State Duma)”
(Kesselman, Krieger, and Joseph, 334). The
presidential post is limited to two consecutive terms, which changed from four
year terms to six year terms in 2012, but there is no restriction on overall
terms served. This means that a
president who has served two consecutive presidential terms can be re-elected
to presidency after a member of his affiliated political party serves a term. A prime
example of the United Russia party control can be seen with Putin, who “recorded
consistently high levels of popular support throughout his tenure and
successfully managed the transition to his handpicked successor as president,
Dmitry Medvedev, who won the 2008 presidential elections handily”, which
resulted in Medvedev appointing Putin as Prime Minster (Kesselman, Krieger, and
Joseph, 340) . Before Putin’s
re-election to presidency in 2012, Medvedev “announced at a party convention in
Moscow that he would step aside for Mr. Putin, who served as president from
2000 to 2008 but was limited by the Constitution to two consecutive terms” and
that he would assume the position prime minister after Putin’s re-election
(Barry, 2011). Putin has recently suggested
that he may run for a fourth presidential term in 2018.
Another area of interest with Russia and the “soft authoritarianism”
label is the fact that “partial or complete state ownership has remained fairly
intact or even been restored after earlier privatization was carried out. (Kesselman,
Krieger, and Joseph, 357). A prime
example of this would be Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly, in which the
federal government controls just over 50 percent of the shares” and the fact
that “Indirect state influence is also realized through the dominant ownership
share in many regional TV channels by Gazprom-Media, a subsidiary of the
state-controlled natural gas company” (Kesselman, Krieger, and Joseph, 358).
The following link is for a Bloomberg news report from this
month that illustrates state control over Gazprom.
The following link is for a November 2013 new report that
illustrates possible trouble between Putin and Medvedev, the current economic
issues in Russia, and possible signs of future political and economic hard
lining by Putin.
RESOURCES:
Barry, Ellen.
2011. Putin Once More Moves to
Assume Top Job in Russia. New York
Times, September 24, 2011. Accessed on
November 27, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/world/europe/medvedev-says-putin-will-seek-russian-presidency-in-2012.html?ref=dmitriamedvedev&_r=0
Mark Kesselman, Joel Krieger, and William Joseph. 2013. Introduction to Comparative Politics,
6th edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
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