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Book Dynamics of Russian Politics

Download or read book Dynamics of Russian Politics written by Peter Reddaway and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who rules Russia? This question is generated by President Vladimir Putin's most ambitious reform program to date--his attempt since 2000 to reshape the Russian federation, centralize much of the power lost by the Kremlin to the eighty-nine regional governors during the 1990s, and strengthen his weak grip on Russia's institutions and political elite. In The Dynamics of Russian Politics Russian and Western authors from the fields of political science, economics, ethnology, law, and journalism examine the reform's impact on key areas of Russian life, including big business, law enforcement, corruption, political party development, health care, local government, small business, and ethnic relations. Volume I presents the historical context and an overview of the reforms, then tracks how Putin's plans were implemented and resisted across each of the seven new federal okrugs, or megaregions, into which he divided Russia. In particular, the authors analyze the goals and contrasting political styles of his seven commissars and how their often-concealed struggles with the more independent and determined governors played out. Volume II examines the impact of these reforms on Russia's main political institutions; the increasingly assertive business community; and the defense, police, and security ministries. It also analyzes how the reforms have affected such key policy areas as local government, health care, political party development, the battle against corruption, small business, ethnic relations, and the ongoing Chechen war. Together, the two volumes simultaneously reveal that Putin's successes have been much more limited and ambiguous than is widely believed in the West while offering detailed and nuanced answers to the difficult but crucial question: Who rules Russia?

Book The Dynamics of Russian Politics

Download or read book The Dynamics of Russian Politics written by Peter Reddaway and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work examines Putin's reforms impact on key areas of Russian life, including big business, and ethnic relations. It presents a historical context and an overview of the reforms, then tracks how Putin's plans were implemented, and resisted, across each of the seven new federal okrugs.

Book Power and Policy in Putin   s Russia

Download or read book Power and Policy in Putin s Russia written by Richard Sakwa and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume provides a retrospective analysis of Putin’s eight years as president between 2000 and 2008. An international group of leading specialists examine Putin’s leadership in an informed and balanced manner. The authors are drawn from Russia itself, as well as from Europe, America and Australasia. Coverage includes general analysis of the Putin presidency, the ideology underlying the thinking of the regime, issues of institutional development including coverage of parties, parliament and elections, developments in the federal system, corruption and changes in the configuration of the elite. The impact of energy on changes in political economy provides the background to an assessment of Russia’s re-emergence as a great power in international affairs, accompanied by analysis of the difficulties in Russia’s relations with its former Soviet neighbours and the European Union. The authors examine the interaction between power and policy, and draw some conclusions about the dynamics of Putin’s system of government and thus of the fate of Russia. This book was published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.

Book Russian Politics and Presidential Power

Download or read book Russian Politics and Presidential Power written by Donald R. Kelley and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2016-10-05 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Russian Politics and Presidential Power takes an in-depth look at the Russian presidency and uses it as a key to understanding Russian politics. Donald R. Kelley looks at presidents from Gorbachev to Putin as authoritarian, transformational leaders who set out to build the future, while sometimes rejecting and reinterpreting the work of past modernizers. Placing the presidency in this context helps readers understand both the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the nature of the Russian Federation that rose in its place. And by setting the presidency within a longer historical context, Kelley shows how the future of the presidency is dependent on other features of the political system.

Book Russia s Federal Relations

Download or read book Russia s Federal Relations written by Elena Chebankova and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-12-04 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The development of centre-regional relations has been at the forefront of Russian politics since the formation of the Russian state and numerous efforts have been made by the country’s subsequent rulers to create a political model that would be suitable for the effective management of its vast territory and multiple nationalities. This book examines the origins, underlying foundations, and dynamics of the federal reforms conducted by President Putin throughout the eight years of his presidency. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the nature of Russia’s federal relations during this period, as well as an examination of factors that led to the development of the extant model of centre-regional dialogue. It discusses how and why the outcomes of most domestic reforms and policies significantly vary from the initial intentions envisaged by the federal centre, and argues that despite a range of positive developments the reforms resulted mainly in a redistribution of powers between the two levels of government and not in a fundamental rethinking of centre-regional relations towards genuine federalism.

Book Putin s Federal and Constitutional Reforms and Democracy

Download or read book Putin s Federal and Constitutional Reforms and Democracy written by Alla G. Khadka and published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2009-09 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study evaluates five of President Putin's reforms: Enhancement of presidential powers; Federal Reforms: Seven Super-Regions Reform and Federation Council Reform; Constitutional Reforms: 2004 Duma reforms and Governors' Reform. It also examines Putin's approach towards oligarchs. There has been much criticism directed against those measures, claiming that they damage democratic principles in Russia. Employing a modified version of Georg Sorensen's definition of democracy I argue that those regulations do not necessarily preclude Russia from becoming a more democratic and open society. To support this argument I examine each reform and compare it with similar measures that were taking place in de Gaulle's and Mitterrand's France. In one case a comparison between Putin's and Thatcher's approaches is drawn. It is demonstrated that Putin's reforms that are perceived in the west as antidemocratic took place earlier in France. Those policies in turn enabled French leaders and later Putin to build a more cohesive and harmonized state that provided the president with institutional tools to create a better basis for the efficient implementation of laws.

Book Putin s Predicament

Download or read book Putin s Predicament written by Bo Petersson and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using the Russian president’s major public addresses as the main source, Bo Petersson analyzes the legitimization strategies employed during Vladimir Putin’s third and fourth terms in office. The argument is that these strategies have rested on Putin’s highly personalized blend of strongman-image projection and presentation as the embodiment of Russia’s great power myth. Putin appears as the only credible guarantor against renewed weakness, political chaos, and interference from abroad—in particular from the US. After a first deep crisis of legitimacy manifested itself by the massive protests in 2011–2012, the annexation of Crimea led to a lengthy boost in Putin’s popularity figures. The book discusses how the Crimea effect is, by 2021, trailing off and Putin’s charismatic authority is increasingly questioned by opposition from Alexei Navalny, the effects of unpopular reforms, and poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Russia is bound to head for a succession crisis as the legitimacy of the political system continues to be built on Putin’s projected personal characteristics and—now apparently waning—charisma, and since no potential heir apparent has been allowed on center stage. The constitutional reform of summer 2020 made it possible in theory for Putin to continue as president until 2036. Yet, this change did not address the Russian political system’s fundamental future leadership dilemma.

Book Identities and Politics During the Putin Presidency

Download or read book Identities and Politics During the Putin Presidency written by Philipp Casula and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How could an undemocratic regime manage to stabilise Russia? What is Putin's success formula? What are the symbolic and discursive underpinnings of Russia's new stability? Many outside observers of Russia regarded the authoritarian tendencies during the Putin presidency as a retreat from, or even the end of, democratization. Rather than attempting to explain why Russia did not follow the trajectory of democratic transformation, this book aims to attain an understanding of the stabilization process during Putin's tenure as president. Proceeding from the assumption that the stability created under Putin is multi-layered, the authors attempt to uncover the underpinnings of the new equilibrium, inquiring especially about the changes and fixations that occurred in the discourses on political and national identity. In doing so, the authors analyse the trajectories of the past years from the traditional perspective of transitology as well as through the lens of post-structuralist discourse theory. The two approaches are seen as complementary, with the latter focusing less on the end point of transition than on the nature of the mechanisms that stabilize the current regime. The book focuses on how nationalism became an increasingly important tool in political discourse and how it affected political identity. "Sovereign democracy" is seen by many contributors as the most explicit manifestation of a newfound post-Soviet identity drawing on nationalist ideas, while simultaneously appeasing most sectors of the Russian political spectrum.

Book Presidential Decrees in Russia

Download or read book Presidential Decrees in Russia written by Thomas F. Remington and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book examines the way Russian presidents Yeltsin, Medvedev, and Putin have used their constitutional decree powers since the end of the Soviet regime. The Russian constitution gives the Russian president extremely broad decree-making power, but its exercise is constrained by both formal and informal considerations. The book compares the Russian president's powers to those of other presidents, including the executive powers of the United States president and those of Latin American presidents. The book traces the historical development of decree power in Russia from the first constitution in 1905 through the Soviet period and up to the present day, showing strong continuities over time. It concludes that Russia's president operates in a strategic environment, where he must anticipate the way other actors, such as the bureaucracy and the parliament, will respond to his use of decree power.

Book Television and Presidential Power in Putin s Russia

Download or read book Television and Presidential Power in Putin s Russia written by Tina Burrett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-12-14 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a new president takes power in Russia, this book provides an analysis of the changing relationship between control of Russian television media and presidential power during the tenure of President Vladimir Putin. It argues that the conflicts within Russia’s political and economic elites, and President Putin’s attempts to rebuild the Russian state after its fragmentation during the Yeltsin administration, are the most significant causes of changes in Russian media. Tina Burrett demonstrates that President Putin sought to increase state control over television as part of a larger programme aimed at strengthening the power of the state and the position of the presidency at its apex, and that such control over the media was instrumental to the success of the president’s wider systemic changes that have redefined the Russian polity. The book also highlights the ways in which oligarchic media owners in Russia used television for their own political purposes, and that media manipulation was not the exclusive preserve of the Kremlin, but a common pattern of behaviour in elite struggles in the post-Soviet era. Basing its analysis predominately on interviews with key players in the Moscow media and political elites, and on secondary sources drawn from the Russian and Western media, the book examines broad themes that have been the subject of constant media interest, and have relevance beyond the confines of Russian politics.

Book Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Download or read book Federalism and Local Politics in Russia written by Cameron Ross and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-10-27 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines federalism and regional and local politics in Russia. Many commentators have alluded to the unique nature of Russia's dual transition and its difficult task of simultaneously reforming its economy and polity. But there is in fact a third transition under way in Russia that is of no less importance, the need to reconfigure central-local relations and to create a stable and viable form of federalism. Federal states are much more difficult to set up than unitary ones, and forging a new federal system at the same time as privatising the economy and trying to radically overhaul the political system has clearly made Russia's transition triply difficult. The book discusses how Vladimir Putin has re-asserted the power of the centre in Russia, and tightened the federal government's control of the regions. It shows how, contrary to his rhetoric about developing Russia as a free and democratic state, authoritarianism has been extended - through his reorganisation of the Federation Council, his usurpation of powers to dismiss regional assemblies and chief executives, and his creation of seven unelected super-governors. The book explores a wide range of issues related to these developments, including a comparative study of Russian federalism and local politics, ethnic federalism, the merging of federal units, regional governors, electoral and party reforms, and regional and local politics. It also includes case studies of local and regional politics in specific regions.

Book Waiting For Reform Under Putin and Medvedev

Download or read book Waiting For Reform Under Putin and Medvedev written by L. Jonson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-08-20 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 2009 Dmitrii Medvedev unveiled the term that was to become the defining objective of his presidency: 'modernization.' The contributors to this book, drawn from the leading scholars in Russian affairs, focus on the contested nature of the concept of modernization and the obstacles that arose in attempting to carry it out.

Book Russia s Federal Relations

Download or read book Russia s Federal Relations written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Enlargement of Russian Regions

Download or read book Enlargement of Russian Regions written by Igor Danchenko and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its independence in 1991, Russia's federative structure underwent several major changes. Burdened by Soviet political and economic legacy it emerged as a loose federation in the 1990s, but then recentralized in 2000s. One of manifestations of centralization has been the so-called process of the enlargement of regions by which small autonomous districts were merged with larger regions, decreasing the overall number of Russian regions. This work addresses the process of regional enlargement in a study of politics and economics of regions at the time of merger and the initial impact that the change of internal borders may have had on the affected regions and on the Russian federalism. This book may be of particular interest to scholars of Russian federalism and ethnofederalism.

Book The New Autocracy

    Book Details:
  • Author : Daniel Treisman
  • Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
  • Release : 2018-02-06
  • ISBN : 0815732449
  • Pages : 288 pages

Download or read book The New Autocracy written by Daniel Treisman and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corruption, fake news, and the "informational autocracy" sustaining Putin in power After fading into the background for many years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia suddenly has emerged as a new threat—at least in the minds of many Westerners. But Western assumptions about Russia, and in particular about political decision-making in Russia, tend to be out of date or just plain wrong. Under the leadership of Vladimir Putin since 2000, Russia is neither a somewhat reduced version of the Soviet Union nor a classic police state. Corruption is prevalent at all levels of government and business, but Russia's leaders pursue broader and more complex goals than one would expect in a typical kleptocracy, such as those in many developing countries. Nor does Russia fit the standard political science model of a "competitive authoritarian" regime; its parliament, political parties, and other political bodies are neither fakes to fool the West nor forums for bargaining among the elites. The result of a two-year collaboration between top Russian experts and Western political scholars, Autocracy explores the complex roles of Russia's presidency, security services, parliament, media and other actors. The authors argue that Putin has created an “informational autocracy,” which relies more on media manipulation than on the comprehensive repression of traditional dictatorships. The fake news, hackers, and trolls that featured in Russia’s foreign policy during the 2016 U.S. presidential election are also favored tools of Putin’s domestic regime—along with internet restrictions, state television, and copious in-house surveys. While these tactics have been successful in the short run, the regime that depends on them already shows signs of age: over-centralization, a narrowing of information flows, and a reliance on informal fixers to bypass the bureaucracy. The regime's challenge will be to continue to block social modernization without undermining the leadership’s own capabilities.

Book Russian Politics Under Putin

Download or read book Russian Politics Under Putin written by Cameron Ross and published by . This book was released on with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2000 Vladimir Putin was elected President of the Russian Federation, the largest country in the world. In the space of just a few years Putin's radical reforms in the areas of domestic and foreign policy have made a major impact on Russian politics and society and we have witnessed a new orientation in Russia's external relations with the West. But is Putin an authoritarian or a democrat? Does his presidency signal a break with Russia's past or is he just another autocratic czar in modern clothing? This is a lively, comprehensive, and highly accessible account of contemporary Russian politics. There are fifteen chapters covering such key areas as: leadership and regime change, political parties and democratization, economy and society, regional politics, the war in Chechnya, and Russian foreign policy.