Imitation democracy
the development of Russia's post-Soviet political system
- ISBN: 9781788733533
- Editorial: Verso Books
- Fecha de la edición: 2022
- Lugar de la edición: London. Reino Unido
- Encuadernación: Cartoné
- Medidas: 22 cm
- Nº Pág.: 208
- Idiomas: Inglés
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia under Yeltsin and Putin implemented a political system of "imitation democracy," marked by "a huge disparity between formal constitutional principles and the reality of authoritarian rule." How did this system take shape, how else might it have developed, and what are the prospects for re-envisioning it more democratically in the future?
These questions animate Dmitrii Furman's Imitation Democracy, a welcome antidote to books that blandly decry Putin as an omnipotent dictator, without considering his platforms, constituencies, and sources of power. With extensive public opinion polling drawn from throughout the late- and post-Soviet period, and a thorough knowledge of both official and unofficial histories, Furman offers a definitive account of the formation of the modern Russian political system, casting it into powerful relief through comparisons with other post-Soviet states.
Peopled with grey technocrats, warring oligarchs, patriots, and provocateurs, Furman's narrative details the struggles among partisan factions, and the waves of public sentiment, that shaped modern Russia's political landscape, culminating in Putin's third presidential term, which resolves the contradiction between the "form" and "content" of imitation democracy, "the formal dependence of power on elections and the actual dependence of elections on power."
1. The Fall of the Soviet State and the Emergence of New Political Systems
1.1 The Path of Trans formation
1.2 The Unwalkable Path to Democracy
1.3 For Russia, a Means of Direct Transition to Democracy in 1991 'Could Not Be Found'
1.4 The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Democratic Movement
1.5 One Liquidation for All, with Different Consequences for Each
2. The Develop ment of Russia's Political System 2.1 Conflict with the Parliament and Ratification of the Constitution
2.2 The First Post-Soviet Presidential Elections
2.3 The Succession Crisis
2.4 Suppressing Separatism and Subordinating Regional Power
2.5 The Submission of the 'Oligarchs' and the Media
2.6 The Creation of United Russia, the Movement toward a Quasi-One-Party System, and the Establishment of Control over Parliament
2.7 Politics as a Series of 'Special Operations' and the Increasingly Strong Role of the Special Services
2.8 Ideological Quests 2.9 Russia 'Rises from Its Knees' and Faces Increasing Confrontations with the West
3. 'The Golden Age': A Developed System
3.1 Putin's Second Term
3.2 Achieving Power's Greatest Possible Control over Society and the 'Limits of the System's Growth'
3.3 What Could Have Frightened the President?
4. The Growth of Contradictions and the Movement toward a Crisis of the Political System
4.1 Atrophy of Feedback Mechanisms
4.2 Social Mobility 'in the Bureaucratic Style'
4.3 The Only Ideology Is Guaranteeing Loyalty
4.4 The Crisis Is Sure to Come as a Surprise 5. In Place of a Conclusion: Possible Outcomes of the Coming Crisis
5.1 The First Alternative: A Successful Transition to Democracy
5.2 The Second Alternative: A Return to No-Alternative Power and the Start of a New Cycle
Foreword by Keith Gessen.
Afterword by Tony Wood.
