Vladmir Putin Returns To Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is one of the three hallmarks of the Russian empire and is one of three characteristics of the government of the former Soviet Union. Party conflict in Russia is not between democratic alternatives; rather it is between democracy and authoritarianism. Russians are said to be predisposed to the ways of an authoritarian government. Russians tend to seek the salvations from their political and economic woes from a charismatic father figure. This paper will examine the progression Vladimir Putin had taken to return Russian to an authoritarian ruled state.

Russian democracy is not consolidated institutionally or in the popular mind. Political power has been transferred solely by electoral and constitutional means since 1993, but the quality of Russian democracy is uncertain. Elections have been broadly free, in that there has been choice, but not fair, owing to faults such as extreme bias in media coverage. The forced constitutional settlement of 1993 laid the ‘building blocks for autocracy,’ and President Yeltsin used his powers to make arbitrary changes to the executive and to direct policy free from democratic constraints.

Little was known about Boris Yeltsin

Vladimir Putin has always favored a strong state with centralized power and has worked diligently to bring this about in Russia. In politics, Putin reiterates his theoretical embrace of democracy and at the same time that he shows in practice what he means by a strong state. Publicly honoring the history of the communist secret police, he has tightened oversight of the press by regulation or threat and implemented police surveillance of email transmissions and Web sites, with a chilling effect on potential critics. By political and financial arm-twisting, he pressures the governors into subservience to the center.

The speed with which Putin, the former head of Russia’s internal security arm and KGB officer, has promoted and built extraordinary personal power is testimony not just to his own insider skill but reflects the strength of the alliance that backs him. Where Putin is now is because he enjoyed the backing of two warring elite clans, one led by the one time reformer Anatoly Chubais as well as the support of the Yeltsin family group and the Russian armed forces and security services. Putin has taken advantage of the nation’s enemies and both internal and external to make up for his lack of charisma. Externally, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United States were allegedly trying to isolate and humiliate Russia. Internally, it was the rebellious Muslim Chechens of the North Caucasus. By waving the banner of nationalism and by launching all-out war to avenge the defeat of Russian arms at the hands of Chechen separatists, three years before, Putin was by the time !

of the December parliamentary elections the country’s most admired politician. “He even won accolades from dissident historian Roy Medvedev as a leader who is energetic and effective, cautious and “reliable.”

Oligarchs also began to have a tough time. Some clearly are losing ground, like media mogul Vladimir Gussinsky or notorious, self-exiled businessman, Boris Berezovsky. Gussinsky’s conglomerates, NTV, Itogi and Sevodnya did not support Vladimir Putin during his election for president, the war in Chechnya and resisted the drive to stamp out diversity of opinion, and as a result, all incurred wrath. All three media centers are now closed. The Kremlin is now preparing a similar takeover of Radio Ekho Moskvy, the radio version of Itogi and the last of Gussinsky’s media group still running. Some Russians do not like the assault on the free press, but most are in different.

utin’s administration removed governors from the Federation Council, thereby losing their parliamentary immunity, thus becoming more vulnerable to pressure from Moscow.

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