Russian Neo-patrimonialism and Putin’s ‘Cultural Turn’

Abstract

Russian politics has been characterised by increasing cultural and political conservatism since Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. This article argues that Putin’s turn to cultural conservatism is a reaction to a crisis in Russia’s neo-patrimonial system. The article presents a model of neo-patrimonialism and argues that the turn to cultural conservatism under Putin is only a partial solution to the problems of neo-patrimonialism in Russia. This is because the turn towards cultural conservatism does not define any internal transformational tasks for Putin to fulfil.