Legitimacy, Repression, Collapse
Developmental Stages of the Putin Regime
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Russia’s annexation of the Crimea is a matter of domestic policy. The old methods by which the regime of Vladimir Putin strived to gain legitimacy are no longer working. Public support of Putin as “commander of armies” is to replace the simulation and imitation of democratic process. Russia is being cast as a “besieged fortress”. A hybrid system has become openly authoritarian. Liberal elements in the economy and society are being systematically destroyed. Russia is turning into a police state. This path will lead to a dead end. The Kremlin has led the country into a crisis that will bring about the replacement of this system.
(Osteuropa 8/2014, pp. 85–98)