Russia's Conservative Modernization: A Mission Impossible?

Abstract

“C is in vogue in Russia,” says Dmitri Trenin, director of the Moscow Carnegie Center. The United Russia Party under Vladimir Putin has already acknowledged itself as a conservative party that can bring modernization to Russia without sacrificing its core values: traditional family, a strong state, patriotism, and “faith in Russia.” However, beneath the veneer of conservative modernization, Trenin believes that systemic problems such as institutionalized corruption and cronyism have created a vicious cycle of rent seeking Despite his critique of the conservatives, Trenin focuses not on whether the conservatives are the rightful rulers of Russia, but rather on how the conservative modernization movement can be effectively channeled to improve the Russian political and economic system and the well-being of its people. Trenin asks the main questions, “What is it that Medvedev and Putin are hoping to achieve and is it achievable through their conservative modernization campaign? If not, is there a credible alternative to ‘conservative’ modernization?” While he asks the right questions and delivers a good explanation of the potential dangers of conservatism without modernization, Trenin falls short in answering the latter question. Trenin asserts that the current rent-seeking bureaucracy was created under the conservative Putin-Medvedev coalition and cannot be solved unless drastic changes are made. He suggests that change must come from within, implying a change of heart from Putin, Medvedev, and other Kremlin insiders. However, he does not show us a situation in which they would do so or offer ideas for how a Russian or outside country could encourage this. Instead he claims that the existence of conservative governments spanning from Europe (Germany’s Christian Democrats) to America (the Republican Party under George W.Bush) and China (the Chinese Communist Party) somehow give comfort to Kremlin leaders in pursuing their own conservative policies. But there is no evidence that conservative governments in the West or China are more likely to support or tolerate conservatism in Russia or that liberal governments are necessarily anti-Russian conservatism. The harsh response of George W. Bush’s government to Russia’s actions in Georgia is a telling counterpoint.