«Putinism» as a variety of authoritarian regime

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the concept and main features of the authoritarian regime, the phenomenon of «Putinism» and its specifi c features. It is substantiated that the topical issues of legal science, in particular the theory of state and law and constitutional law, include the defi nition of the essence and features of the political regime as an important component of the state, as well as their varieties. The most common political regime in human history is authoritarianism. The scientifi c positions on the interpretation of the meaning of the concept of «authoritarian regime» are analyzed and its main features are highlighted. This article notes that among the key factors that contributed to the authoritarian trend are the weak socio-economic effi ciency of young democracies, the personal insecurity of people who rely on a «strong hand». The frustration of the citizens of the new democracies in their governments has led to a loss of faith in democracy, resulting in instability and political confl ict. On the other hand, the economic success of countries with authoritarian rule «works» to legitimize them and becomes an unfavorable factor for the global spread of democracy. It is noted that today the most common are two theories of understanding the essence of the regime of «Putinism». In this article, the author describes the authoritarian regime, and on its basis identifi es specifi c features of «Putinism» as a kind of authoritarian regime. Key words: political regime, hybrid regime, authoritarian regime, authoritarianism, «Putinism».