Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes

225 Pages·2015·2 MB·English

by  Vladimir Gel'man

A u t h o r i t a r i a n
R u s s i a
Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies
Jonathan Harris, Editor
A u t h o r i t a r i a n
R u s s i a
Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes
Vladimir Gel’man
Uni versi t y of Pi t tsburgh Press
Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260
Copyright © 2015, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 10: 0-8229-6368-X
ISBN 13: 978-0-8229-6368-4
Cataloging-in-publication data is on file with the Library of Congress.
To Oxana and Eva

C o n t e n t s
acknowledgments ix
preface xi
Chapter 1. Regime Changes in Russia
The Road of Disillusionment
1
Chapter 2. Russia’s Flight from Freedom
Why?
17
Chapter 3. The Roaring 1990s
Conflicts and Compromises
43
Chapter 4. The (In)famous 2000s
Imposed Consensus
71
Chapter 5. The Unp redictable 2010s
Rising Challenges
99
Chapter 6. The Agenda for Tomorrow
129
notes 155
index 201

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
this book has been the result of numerous scholarly ventures over sev-
eral years, and several institutions and many people have accompanied me
in these ventures in various ways. First and foremost, I am indebted to my
academic home, the European University at St. Petersburg, where I have been
honored to teach and conduct research since 1996. The experience of an en-
couraging scholarly environment, support from the university leadership, and
exchanges of ideas with colleagues in the Department of Political Science and
Sociology and the Center for Modernization Studies have greatly enriched
me and shaped my agenda to a major degree. I would like to thank, in par-
ticular, Grigorii Golosov, Boris Firsov, Oleg Kharkhordin, Boris Kolonitsky,
Ella Paneyakh, Eduard Ponarin, Mikhail Sokolov, Anna Temkina, Dmitry
Travin, Vadim Volkov, Andrei Zaostrovtsev, and Elena Zdravomyslova. A
number of talented former students (some of whom went on to become schol-
ars themselves) encouraged me to provide them with better examples of my
own research—especially Elena Belokurova, Alexey Gilev, Kirill Kalinin,
Egor Lazarev, Maria Nozhenko, Yevgeniya Popova, Andrey Scherbak, Anton
Shirickov, Andrei Starodubtsev, Anna Tarasenko, and Margarita Zavadskaya
(to name just a few).
I also owe a major debt to the Aleksanteri Institute at the University of
Helsinki, where I have worked since 2012 as a Finland Distinguished Professor
thanks to the support of the Academy of Finland. The Institute’s director,
Markku Kivinen, offered me a unique opportunity to be the servant of two
masters and to work and live in two cities, St. Petersburg and Helsinki. My
special thanks go to my Finland-based colleagues, especially Risto Alapuro,
Sari Autio-Sarasmo, Jukka Gronow, Tuomas Forsberg, Markku Kangaspuro,
Meri Kulmala, Jussi Lassila, Markku Lonkila, Arkady Moshes, Anna-Maria
Salmi, Hanna Smith, and numerous others. We discussed various drafts of
book chapters and some related pieces during many seminars and conferences,
from Perm to Iowa City and from Uppsala to Vienna. Among many scholars
with whom I found it useful to exchange ideas and share thoughts, I would
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