Readings:  Article 5 in Goldman, “Comrade Putin Knows Best,” pp.213-214; and  M. Steven Fish’s “Putin’s Path:  Ten Years after the Soviet Break-up, Journal of Democracy, in your course reader.

Let’s compare the two readings for a moment.

What common themes, points, assessments do they make?

Where they diverge?

Newsweek coverge: “Democracy in Doubt”; harps on the media crack down, the seizure of NTV.  Ends with quote from Yuli Rybakov, parliamentarian, “The totalitarian mind-set is still an organic part of our consciousness.”  Characterizes Vlad’s regime as illiberal, dictatorial, a throw back to the bad old days.  “Strengthening the State” for Newsweek is simply bad.

How does Fish see it?
 

Why are they different in this way?
Difference between popular media and scholarly analysis:  Newsweek piece harps on the sensational, portrays things as black and white

Fish’s take:  more nuanced AND informed.  Lots of gray.  Even the stuff that sounds bad, like cracking down on independent media or “statism” is understandable in the Russian context.  AND they might even be GOOD for democracy, Russia’s long term prospects for democratization.  Do you agree?

Fish highlights four elements of Putin’s regime- what are they??
1. (Re)centralizing state power – Yeltsin devolved a lot of power to the oblast level;  democratic theory suggests this is the most democratic scale of governance;  has this proven true in Russia?  Why or why not?

No – because it opened the door for regional politicians to consolidate their their power over their fiefdoms (often in conjunction with organized crime)

Political culture piece; power vacuum idea; need for order, someone to routinize transactions, etc.
 
Fish on Statism – “A feeble central state can impede democratization as surely as an overly strong one.”

2. Formulating a “practical ideology” (Jowitt’s term, i.e., nationalism not based on exclusive ethnic identity)
  Putin’s party Edinstvo (Unity); taps into Russians’ nostaligia for unity of SU;
Thank God for the end of the essay contests, the national anthem lyric writing, etc. (note:  returned to the Soviet anthem)

Three symbols of national unity – what are they?
The presidency, the military, and the law

The law the new one here.  Idea of all criminal cases qualifying for jury trials now.  Trying to assure certainty, state capacity.  [Note:  has this been the case in domestic violence cases?]

3. Restoring state control of communication
No criticism of the president tolerated
Surveillance of email. (terrorism, Chechnya, organized crime as excuses)

4.  Structuring political competition
Made parties have to work hard to recruit people across many regions to qualify to appear on ballot.  Effect: to reduce the number of parties.  Is this a good or a bad thing?

Also intro’d state financing for all parties.  Is this a good or a bad thing?