Putin's Russia

Abstract

IN THE MID-1980S, MIKHAIL GORBACHEV saw the imminent disaster about to befall the Soviet Union, brought on in part by the decaying ruling party. He opted to open the country to outside assistance as Russia let go of its 'near abroad.' Eventually, Canada and its Western partners committed themselves politically and financially to assist in the transition that Gorbachev launched. Russia is a Eurasian nuclear power, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, abundantly rich in natural resources. It is useful to be reminded of these simple facts to restore some balance to our appreciation of a country about which attention has focused disproportionately on the travails of its transformation.The international context and the high social costs of reforms in Russia have sharpened the challenges facing Boris Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, who has made a public commitment to restore the authority of the state and to pursue democratic development. Russia's partners must build on the efforts made so far to ensure that Russia stays the democratic course. Hence, it is important to understand the challenges Putin faces and his inclinations in dealing with them.ERA OF RESTORATIONVladimir Putin has publicly committed himself to the pursuit of democratic development. He is also dedicated to restoring the power of the state. These two major concepts, democracy and 'statism,' are compatible only in a system of governance in which checks on power are in place and balance is assured by an absolute respect for the rule of law. Although neither condition has featured in Russia's history, one of the great achievements of the past ten years is the growing acceptance of these principles, something the West has tended to overlook. Success in achieving both goals will depend on the place that liberal values come to occupy in Russia. (Liberal values are taken here in the most general sense, that is, those that characterize a society that recognizes and allows an individual to make free choices in the pursuit of personal goals compatible with public good.) To my mind, this is the crucial question facing Russia and its partners.L'etat c'est moiThe reconciliation of democracy and statism presupposes that executive, legislative, and judicial powers will be left unhindered to play their institutional role. It also assumes that the executive will accept and allow the emergence of independent political parties, which may oppose those who govern, and that the right to express their views freely to the public will be protected.To allow centuries-old forms of governance to co-exist with the intellectual acceptance of forms of liberal/democratic organization of society that are only partly familiar is a bold proposition. Is Putin the man to accomplish it? Certainly he claims vast authority and responsibility. He declared in the Kremlin on 7 May 2000, the day of his inauguration, that he was 'aware that I have undertaken a huge responsibility and I am aware that the head of state in Russia has always been and will always be responsible for everything, for everything that is happening in the country.'In the wake of the successfully engineered transmission of power in the Kremlin, two different views of Russia's governance are locked in conflict. The imperative of restoring statism as one way to consolidate power in the hands of individuals under the guise of 'reason of state' will be feared by those who have fought for the respect of individual political rights by the state. The cards are on the table.THE VALUES OF VLADIMIR PUTINPutin's political genealogy nominally links him to Boris Yeltsin. His spiritual father, however, is more likely Yuri Andropov, long-time head of the KGB and general-secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1984. The political team in the Kremlin that successfully implemented the Yeltsin succession strategy saw in Putin the embodiment of the two 'deliverables' expected of a new president: to secure the political inheritance of Boris Yeltsin and to signal a new generation in the Kremlin. …