The Code of Putinism by Taylor Brian D.;

Author:Taylor, Brian D.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2018-03-07T16:00:00+00:00

The President and the Boss

Constitutionally, the president of the Russian Federation “shall determine the guidelines of the internal and foreign policies of the State.” Just as in the United States, the president is the most important player in the policy process, from setting the agenda nationally to overseeing executive branch implementation of laws. So far, so good. What is different in Russia, and other electoral authoritarian systems with a powerful president, is that the role of other branches of power, in particular the legislature, is significantly smaller than in true democracies, and also less in reality than the constitution prescribes. The Presidential Administration is the driving force behind most policy change, although the various executive-branch ministries also maintain considerable power.4

If we think about political decision-making in terms of checks and balances, in Russia the key actors are not the ones described in the constitution but the informal clan networks. Russia’s leading scholarly expert on the elite, Olga Kryshtanovskaya, observed that in the United States the system of weights and counterbalances is based on institutions; in Russia, it is more of a “hybrid state” of both institutions and clans, with clans being de facto more important. Maintaining the “power of the tsar,” she argued, is of great consequence. The decision-making process is more autocratic, “like in the army.” She believes that the process is intellectually weak, because there are not serious discussions, but only “consultations” conducted by Putin with various key players. Kryshtanovskaya, who has consulted for the Kremlin in the past, noted that there is no systematic attempt to develop scenarios and think through multiple possible courses of action, a process rejected by the Russian system as too unpredictable. A well-connected editor, similarly, contended that Putin’s assistants provide information and opinions, but ultimately have little influence on him, and that Putin’s tendency to make decisions on his own often leads to mistakes and negative consequences. The system’s “biggest minus,” according to another journalist, is that everything turns around one person, with all key decisions taken by Putin. Even top figures like the minister of defense, the minister of foreign affairs, and the secretary of the security council are, according to one Russian scholar, “decision-takers, not decision-makers.”5

The inability to take any decision without Putin is a “big problem,” according to one expert, especially because Putin is reluctant to delegate. This can drag out the decision-making process, because people at lower levels in the state are hesitant to act or take initiative. Ivan Rodin, the politics editor at a leading Moscow newspaper, elaborated on this issue. With the political system built as a vertical, all key decisions belong to Putin. But obviously it is not physically possible for Putin to do everything, so various proposals have to be prepared for him. Rodin claims that Putin is careful to get alternative sources of information, especially after 2005, when the Kremlin was caught by surprise by protests in response to changes in social benefits for pensioners and veterans. Further, Rodin notes that people who

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