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  • Policy Memos | Аналитика
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Revenge of the Administrative System: The Primakov-Luzhkov Silver Lining

  • July 23, 2012
  • Eduard Ponarin

At first glance, the probable political victory of the Primakov-Luzhkov duo in the wake of the failure of liberal reforms in Russia looks like a regressive return to the bureaucratic administrative system. However, as one looks closer into the reasons for the liberals' failure and mulls over various alternatives, this scenario, while still very disappointing, may not look so bleak.

The rapid collapse in Russia of the old administrative system in the early 1990s created a vacuum of social regulation that resulted in the proliferation of crime and corruption and jeopardized the reform itself. This failure reduced popular support for the liberal reformers. The political regime, in the absence of public support, started to rid itself of public control. It already featured elements of arbitrariness, exemplified by occasional use of force and government shuffles. If such developments continue, the current regime may turn into a pseudo-liberal tyranny. Under the guise of economic reform and democracy, there will be further squandering of national resources and, eventually, suppression of political dissent. There have already been calls to ban the not-so-radical Communist Party of the Russian Federation and to prevent the centrist Fatherland-All Russia electoral bloc from participating in the parliamentary elections. […]

Read full text (PDF)

Memo #:
75
Series:
1
PDF:
pm_0075.pdf
PDF URL:
http://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pm_0075.pdf
Eduard Ponarin
Eduard Ponarin
Website | + posts
Professor, Department of Sociology
Affiliation

Higher School of Economics, Moscow
Links

Higher School of Economics (Bio)
Expertise

Nationalism, Religion, Islam, Federalism, Russia
  • Eduard Ponarin
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eduard-ponarin/
    Disillusionment and Anti-Americanism in Russia: From Pro-American to Anti-American Attitudes, 1993–2009
  • Eduard Ponarin
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eduard-ponarin/
    От кочевников до стационарных бандитов
  • Eduard Ponarin
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eduard-ponarin/
    Несчастье помогло: Почему россияне чувствуют себя счастливыми как никогда
  • Eduard Ponarin
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/eduard-ponarin/
    От Болотной к школотной: почему молодеет лицо российской оппозиции?
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