The Putin phenomenon

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics

Volumn 24, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 604-628

  White, Stephen ^a   McAllister, Ian ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 57449083957     PISSN: 13523279     EISSN: 17439116     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13523270802510610     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (92)

1. See for instance Stephen Holmes, 'Superpresidentialism and Its Problems', East European Constitutional Review, Vol.2, No.4 and Vol.3, No.1 (Fall/Winter 1993-94), pp.123-6
2. Oleg Rumyantsev, Osnovy konstitutsionnogo stroya Rossii (Moscow: Yurist, 1994), p.123
3. G.V. Dëgtev, Stanovlenie i razvitie instituta prezidentstva v Rossii: Teoretiko-pravovye i konstitutsionnye osnovy (Moscow: Yurist, 2005), p.220
4. and for what is perhaps the strongest statement of this view, M. Steven Fish, Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp.193-245.
5. See for instance Eugene Huskey, Presidential Power in Russia (Armonk NY and London: M.E. Sharpe, 1999),
6. and Timothy J. Colton and Cindy Skach, 'The Russian Predicament', Journal of Democracy, Vol.16, No.3 (July 2005), pp.113-26.
7. Giovanni Sartori, Comparative Constitutional Engineering: An Inquiry into Structures, Incentives and Outcomes, 2nd ed. (London: Macmillan, 1997), p.139.
8. Matthew Shugart and John M. Carey, Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Designs and Electoral Dynamics (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp.148- 66
9. see also James P. McGregor, 'The Presidency in East Central Europe', RFE/RL Research Report, Vol.3, No.2 (14 Jan. 1994), pp.23-31
10. Timothy Frye, 'A Politics of Institutional Choice: Post-Communist Presidencies', Comparative Political Studies, Vol.30, No.5 (Oct. 1997), pp.523-52
11. and Lee Kendall Metcalf, 'Measuring Presidential Power', Comparative Political Studies, Vol.33, No.5 (June 2000), pp.660-85.
12. Colton and Skach, 'The Russian Predicament', p.126.
13. Jon Elster, 'Afterword', in Ray Taras (ed.), Postcommunist Presidents (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), p.226.
14. Kommersant, 5 Jan. 2000, p.1.
15. See Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White, 'Putin's Militocracy', Post-Soviet Affairs, Vol.19, No.4 (2003), pp.289-306.
16. Our survey was conducted under the auspices of Russian Research between 30 January and 27 February 2008 (n = 2000), and is representative of the over-18 population of the Russian Federation. We acknowledge the support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council under grant RES-000-22-2532 to Stephen White and Ian McAllister.
17. Obshchaya gazeta, 24 May 2001, p.7.
18. Argumenty i fakty, No.9 (2001), p.5
19. and on the bar, The Guardian, 29 June 2002, p.16 (it was later closed down: Izvestiya, 28 Sept. 2002, p.1).
20. RFE/RL Newsline, 28 Aug. 2002
21. the group and their director were featured in Ogonëk, No.40 (2002), pp.28-9.
22. This was a play on the president's celebrated promise that he would 'wipe out the terrorists even if they were on the john' (Rossiiskaya gazeta, 25 Sept. 1999, p.1).
23. Argumenty i fakty, No.40 (2002), p.4.
24. Quoted in The Moscow Times, 11 March 2008, p.1.
25. The Guardian, 12 March 2001, p.14.
26. St Petersburg Times, 3 Nov. 2000, p.1.
27. Izvestiya, 29 June 2002, p.3.
28. The Guardian, 12 March 2001, p.14.
29. Ibid., 12 Oct. 2004, p.4.
30. 'In bed with President Putin', 20 Sept. 2001, at http://www.english.pravda.ru/fun/2002/09/20/15789.html.as quoted in Stephen White and Ian McAllister, 'Putin and His Supporters', Europe-Asia Studies, Vol.55, No.3 (2003), pp.383-99 (pp.389-90).
31. Nezavisimaya gazeta, 23 April 2004, p.12. For more examples of the representation of Putin in literary output see below, and the contribution by Andrei Rogatchevski to the present collection.
32. Quoted in The Guardian, 3 March 2006, p.28.
33. Komsomol'skaya pravda, 22 Aug. 2007, p.1.
34. 'Putin Gone Wild: Russia Abuzz Over Pics of Shirtless Leader', 22 Aug. 2007, at http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/08/22/ putin-shirtless.html., accessed 15 Sept. 2008.
35. Daily Telegraph, 1 Sept. 2008, p.15.
36. Ibid., 20 June 2008, p.19.
37. Izvestiya, 27 June 2007, p.1.
38. Ibid., p.4, and 9 Aug. 2007, p.5 (portraits).
39. Ibid., 27 June 2007, p.4.
40. Daily Telegraph, 22 June 2007, p.18.
41. Izvestiya, 27 June 2007, p.1.
42. Izyestiya, 19 July 2007, p.4.
43. Aleksandr Kolesnichenko, 'Nesting Dolls, Vodka, and Underpants', Transitions Online, 5 May 2008, at http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL., accessed 15 Sept. 2008.
44. Izvestiya, 14 Aug. 2007, p.2.
45. Daily Telegraph, 7 April 2008, p.17.
46. The Moscow Times, 11 March 2008, p.1.
47. Anekdoty pro Putina (St Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo Bukovskogo, 2001), p.11.
48. The Moscow Times, 11 March 2008, p.1.
49. Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct. 2007, p.20.
50. Izvestiya, 6 April 2007, pp.1, 3.
51. Moskovskii Komsomolets, 11 December 2007, pp.1, 4
52. and on the number sects, http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071211/ 91857622-print.html., accessed 9 Nov. 2008.
53. Argumenty i fakty, No.38 (1993), p.2.
54. Ekonomicheskie i sotsial'nye peremeny: Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya, No.1 (1995), p.5.
55. Izvestiya, 14 Dec. 1994, p.3 (this was a saying originally attributed to Interior Minister Plehve in conversation with General Kuropatkin in January 1904 on the eve of the ill-fated war with Japan).
56. Kommersant'-daily, 10 March 1995, p.3.
57. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya, No.1 (2000), pp.58, 59.
58. The journalist David Satter was one of those who concluded that the bombings had been 'organized not by the Chechens, who had nothing to gain from them, but by those who needed another war capable of propelling Putin into the presidency in order to save their corruptly acquired wealth. These could only have been the leaders of the Yeltsin regime itself': See his Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), p.69. The most elaborate statement of this conspiratorial view is Yuri Felshtinsky and Alexander Litvinenko, Blowing Up Russia (London: Gibson Square, 2007).
59. Trud, 27 Jan. 2000, p.1.
60. Nezavisimaya gazeta, 28 Dec. 2001, p.2.
61. Nezavisimaya gazeta, 16 May 2001, p.10.
62. Some 85 per cent of those who were asked by the Levada Centre rated Putin's actions 'positively' or 'very positively': http://www.levada.ru/ press/2002102900.html., accessed 15 Sept. 2008; there were less favourable opinions about his actions in relation to the Beslan hostage-taking incident, but only 16 per cent thought he should resign and 72 per cent took the opposite view: http://www.levada.ru/press/ 2004091501.html., accessed 15 Sept. 2008.
63. Izvestiya, 12 May 2006, p.2.
64. Levada Centre data, 1 Sept. 2008, at http://www.levada.ru/press/ 2008090104.print. html., accessed 15 Sept. 2008.
65. Vestnik obshchestvennogo mneniya, No.6 (2007), p.64.
66. Ibid., p.70.
67. See http://www.levada.ru/prezlich.html., accessed 25 Aug. 2008.
68. Ibid.
69. Richard Rose, Russians Under Putin: New Russia Barometer 10 (Glasgow: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, SPP 350, 2001), p.42. By March 2004 Putin was more generally identified with a pro-market economy - by 66 per cent:
70. see Richard Rose, New Russia Barometer XIII: Putin's Re-Election (Glasgow: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, SPP 388, 2004), p.52.
71. Kommersant, 17 March 2000, p.2.
72. Izvestiya, 10 Dec. 2007, p.2
73. Ibid., 4 Dec. 2007, p.2.
74. 'V. Putin: Itogi prezidentstva', 30 April 2008, at http://bd.fom.ru./ report/map/dominant/dom0817/d081721., accessed 5 May 2008; 13 per cent were undecided.
75. Ibid.
76. Rossiiskaya gazeta, 9 Feb. 2008, pp.1-3 (p.2).
77. We draw at this point on the focus groups conducted under the direction of Roger Eatwell and Elena Korosteleva for their project on charismatic leadership funded by EU-INTAS (99-00245), with thanks to Elena Korosteleva formaking themavailable to us. Some attempts have also been made to use the insights of social psychology to explain Putin's appeal to ordinary Russians. He was for instance associated with 'healthy', 'pleasant' and 'natural' smells, and with 'light', 'warm' and 'bright' colours. He was also associated with strong animals, 'especially with predators': Ye.B. Shestopal, T.N. Pishcheva, Ye.M. Gikavyi and V.A. Zorin, 'Obraz V.V. Putina v soznanii rossiiskikh grazhdan', Polis, No.3 (2004), pp.6-21 (p.21).
78. Wedraw at this point on the focus groups conducted for the authors by the Institute ofApplied Politics inMoscow under the direction of Ol'ga Kryshtanovskaya and with the financial support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council under grant RES-000-22-2532 to StephenWhite and Ian McAllister. Six focus groups were conducted in June and July 2008: two in Moscow, one in Podol'sk in the Moscow region, two in Novomoskovsk in the Tula region, and one in Kursk.
79. Cited in note 65 above.
80. White and McAllister, 'Putin and His Supporters', pp.392, 394, 396. The survey agency ROMIR found similarly that Putin's support 'almost completely coincide[d] with the structure of the Russian population', which was a 'unique phenomenon in the contemporary Russian political process': Ye.I. Bashkirova and N.V. LaidinFn, 'Prezident: fenomen obshchestvennoi podderzhki', Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, No.9 (2001), pp.29-36 (p.30)
81. see also Richard Rose, Neil Munro and Stephen White, 'How Strong is Vladimir Putin's Support?', Post-Soviet Affairs, Vol.16, No.4 (2000), pp.287-312.
82. The five items have a Cronbach's alpha of 0.83 and a mean inter-item correlation of .50. The correlation between this multiple-item scale and approval of Putin is 0.65.
83. The survey also included a measure of income, but 38 per cent of the sample did not answer the question, and for this reason self-assessed living standards is used instead.
84. More opportunity to participate includes items dealing with freedom of religion; joining an organization; participating in politics; and freedom of speech. More opportunity to influence events includes officials treating citizens equally; influencing politics; and not getting arrested. The two scales were identified by factor analysis, and the Cronbach's alpha for the first set of items is 0.81, and for the second, 0.83.
85. Rossiiskaya gazeta, 9 Feb. 2008, pp.1-3 (p.2).
86. Rossiiskaya gazeta, 9 Nov. 2007, p.14.
87. Izvestiya, 3 Dec. 2007, p.2.
88. Since social structure had relatively little impact in Table 6, in the interests of parsimony it has been excluded. Including it in the analysis does not significantly change the results in Table 8.
89. Rose finds similarly that 'the higher the approval shown President Putin as an individual, the more an individual is inclined to support the current regime'; but support for Putin himself added little to explanations of regime support and it was judgements of the current economic situation that were overwhelmingly dominant: Richard Rose, 'The Impact of President Putin on Popular Support for Russia's Regime', Post-Soviet Affairs, Vol.23, No.2 (2007), pp.97-117 (pp.109-10).
90. To adapt the title of James L. Gibson, 'A Mile Wide But an Inch Deep (?): The Structure of Democratic Commitments in the Former USSR', American Journal of Political Science, Vol.40, No.2 (1996), pp.396-420.
91. We agree here with Rose that Putin has been the 'beneficiary, not the cause, of economic conditions that have boosted support for the new economic system' and that '[a]s and when the popular evaluation of the new economic system turns down, this could have a substantial impact on regime support', although the passage of time would also operate to its advantage: 'The Impact of President Putin', pp. 112, 113.
92. Levada Centre data for July 2008 at http://www.levada.ru/press/ 2008073104.html., accessed 15 Sept. 2008.