Society as a State Event?
Trade Associations and the State in Russia
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Trade associations are seldom viewed as relevant political players in Poland; based on the empirical evidence, however, this assumption should be differentiated: For one, the potential of such associations depends largely on the framework of opportunity granted by the state, and as the past two decades show, this potential is in this regard subject to change. For another, these associations represent a specific means of influencing the complex network of persons, cliques and organisations that determine the political process in Russia. Putin’s strategy of authoritarian modernisation brings with it the manifest danger of producing a dysfunctional nationalised form of social interest-group representation.
(Osteuropa 9/2006, pp. 25–42)