From Continuity to Stagnation
Instable Stability in Authoritarian Russia
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The global economic crisis has hit Russia hard. Even the authoritarian regime in Moscow has been forced to recognise this. Instead of continuing to deny the consequences of the collapse in oil prices and the reduced demand for other raw materials, Putin and Medvedev are engaged in a hectic form of crisis management. This activism, however, cannot disguise the fact that the regime is still shying away from structural reforms. At the same time, tensions within the country are growing, and the consensus of the elite, which was purchased with petrodollars, is once again brittle.
(Osteuropa 4/2009, pp. 17–30)