Периферийный авторитаризм: Как и куда пришла Россия

Another thing, which Putin contributed to the Yeltsintime political system, were his efforts to nullify elements that were alien to authoritarian system, that is 1) competitive elections and 2) independent private big business capable of gaining political power (the so-called “oligarchy”). In both cases he made a considerable advance in this direction even before the fresh round of authoritarian restyling of Russian politics in 2013-2014. The latter made the goal of building a near-classical autocracy based on “one nation

– one leader” principle not only feasible but rather an inevitable achievement. By the time this book is published elections at almost every level have come to produce results that are 95% predictable, while the remaining 5% could be managed by other means or simply neglected. On the other hand, big private business not linked to big government survives, if it does, as a poor relic of the so-called “oligarchy” of the 1990s, and the last thing it wants to be thought of is its having any political ambitions.

As a result, what we are witnessing now in Russia is a consolidated, fully-fledgedautocracywith an indisputable leader presiding over privileged bureaucracy and a very large strata of public and semi-public workers, as well as straight dependents of the state, who rely on the government for their income and protection against all sorts of menace, both real and imaginary.

The reasons for that are plentiful, but one important factor, which is stressed in this book as being of utmost importance, is that contemporary Russia that emerged on the ruins of a former communist superpower is a peripheral and subordinated part of the global capitalist civilization, of its economy, technologies and politics.

Russia’s role in the global economy is limited to that of a supplier of hydrocarbons (and a small portion of other primary products) to more advanced and wealthy nations, with little chance of breaking the vicious circle oflow position, poor efficiency and low status. The result is an almost complete absence of sovereign business class, self-conscious and independent from government bureaucracy, which would be eager to integrate itself into global business aristocracy. Hence little motivation can be expected in the Russian political class to change domestic political and business rules in order to gain competitive power and international advantages.