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Monday April 29, 2024
 
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East, rivista internazionale di geopolitica
 
European Regional Master's Degree in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe
 

«Sovereign democracy» - moving toward the construction of a monocenter system or withdrawing from it?

Kuvaldin Viktor - Gorbachev Foundation

1. "Sovereign democracy" became an original political result of Mr. Putin's presidency. (conscious) ambiguity of the term opens wide opportunities for various interpretations. And nevertheless in Russian language the semantic accent is usually put on a noun, and the adjective is used as the additional characteristic.
2. "Reformatting" of Eltsin's chaos to a monocenter control system is the most complex, inconsistent and debatable part of a political heritage of Mr. Putin concerning which historians still will long break lances. The nearest years should show, what is that - temporary barracks, born by a specific situation or the capable mechanism of the country's problems decision.
3. The main debatable units of this problem field can be planned as follows: 1) how putin's system corresponds with pre-revolutionary Russian and Soviet systems, and what new aspects it has brought into Russian politics; 2) in what measure construction of monocenter system was the compelled step dictated by "offered circumstances" and in what - a consecutive political choice; 3) the way that public inquiry at the times of Eltsin's government decline and Putin's political rate correspond; 4) in what measure "sovereign democracy " became " asymmetric, but adequate " answer of Moscow to the " color revolutions "; 5) how revaluation of policy of the West concerning Russia pushes to additional accent of sovereign character of young Russian democracy; 6) as the fragmentation of an image of the "West" influences the attitude of Russians to democracy; 7) when there was more democracy in Russia, in the end of Eltsin's or Putin's governments.
4. The first serious check on durability to the slogan of "sovereign democracy" will take place in electoral cycle 2007/8. While there are no sufficient bases to believe, that this slogan will appear in focus of pre-election political discussions.
5. Additional theme: "sovereign democracy" and prospects of formation of two-party system in Russia. Survivability of the slogan will depend in many respects on the measure of its help to "Edinaya Rossia" in keeping monopoly for the authority.

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