The vertikal: Power and authority in Russia

International Affairs

Volumn 88, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 1-16

  Monaghan, Andrew ^a  

^a NATO Defense College   (Italy)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84856173655     PISSN: 00205850     EISSN: 14682346     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01053.x     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White, 'Inside the Putin court: a research note', Europe-Asia Studies 57: 7, Nov. 2005, 1065-75
2. Oleg Zaznaev, 'The presidentialisation of a semi-presidential regime: the case of Russia', in Stephen White, ed., Politics and the ruling group in Putin's Russia (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
3. Hans-Henning Schröder, 'What kind of political regime does Russia have?', in White, ed., Politics and the ruling group; and, for analysis of Russian qualified democracy, see Nikolay Petrov, Maria Lipman and Henry Hale, Overmanaged democracy in Russia: governance implications of hybrid regimes, Carnegie Papers 106, Feb. 2010, accessed 3 Jan2012
4. Ivan Krastev, '"Sovereign democracy", Russian-style', Open Democracy, 16 Nov. 2006, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
5. For contrasting views on this issue, see Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White, 'Putin's militocracy', Post Soviet Affairs 19: 4, 2003289-306
6. Betina Renz, 'Putin's militocracy? An alternative interpretation of Siloviki in contemporary Russian politics', Europe-Asia Studies 58: 6, 2006903-24.
7. Richard Sakwa, The crisis of Russian democracy: the dual state, factionalism and the Medvedev succession (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011)1.
8. Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, 'The myth of the authoritarian model: how Putin's crackdown holds Russia back', Foreign Affairs 87: 1, Jan.Feb. 200868-84.
9. Philip Hanson, 'Networks, cronies and business plans: business-state relations in Russia', in Vadim Kononenko and Arkady Moshes, eds, Russia as a network state: what works in Russia when state institutions do not? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)129.
10. For an insightful discussion of the tandem arrangement, see Peter Reddaway, 'Two part Czar', The National Interest, May/June 200966-75
11. Speech by Dmitry Medvedev at the United Russia Party Congress, 24 Sept. 2008, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
12. Alexei Kudrin ob'yasnil prichini svoei otstavki, 27 Sept. 2011, accessed 3 Jan.', Moskovski komsomolets, 2012.
13. Kononenko and Moshes, eds, Russia as a network state.
14. For discussion of means of measuring state capacity, see e.g. Schröder, 'What kind of political regime does Russia have?15
15. McFaul and Stoner-Weiss, 'The myth of the authoritarian model69, 74
16. Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Resisting the state: reform and retrenchment in post-Soviet Russia (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006)8.
17. Stoner-Weiss, Resisting the state 8.
18. Pervogo Litsa: razgovory s Vladimirom Putinom (Moscow: Vagrius, 2000), p. 20.
19. For an examination of corruption in Russia, see Vladimir Milov, Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Olga Shorina, eds, Putin. Korruptsiya. Nezavisimi expertni doklad (Moscow: La Russophobe, April 2011). For the role of kompromat, see Alena Ledeneva, 'Can Medvedev change sistema? Informal networks and public administration in Russia', in Kononenko and Moshes, eds, Russia as a network state.
20. Vadim Kononenko, 'Introduction', in Kononenko and Moshes, eds, Russia as a network state, pp. 12-14. It is not the intention of the article, for instance, to assert that the Russian government has specific or necessarily unique characteristics-rather, it is to attempt an analysis of power and authority in Russia. More broadly, it is not the intention of the article to engage in wider theoretical debates, though it should be noted that network theory has been critiqued: see e.g. Jonathan Joseph, 'The problem with networks theory', Labor History12010127-44.
21. The author is grateful to the anonymous peer reviewer for bringing this publication to his attention.
22. Kryshtanovskaya and White, 'Inside the Putin court1067-8.
23. For discussion of the evolution of the tandem and the relationship between Medvedev and Putin, see Andrew Monaghan, 'The Russian vertikal: the tandem, power and the elections', Chatham House briefing paper, May 2011.
24. Quoted in 'Kandidat bez konkurentov', Moskovski komsomolets, 4 Aug2010.
25. Putin speaking to the meeting of the Russian government, Moscow, 29 Dec. 2010, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
26. Oleg Ptashkin, 'Zakon o bespredele', 18 Jun. 2010, accessed 9 Jan. 2012.
27. Sakwa, The crisis of Russian democracy; Kryshtanovskaya and White, 'Inside the Putin court'; Ledeneva, 'Can Medvedev change sistema?'.
28. For full membership of the Security Council, see, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
29. Utverzhdeno novoe Polozheniye o sovete bezopasnosti Rossii', Kremlin, 6 May 2011, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
30. For discussion of the evolving role of the SC, see Keir Giles, 'Who gives the orders in the new Russian army?', research paper (Rome: NATO Defense College, forthcoming Jan. 2012).
31. See e.g. the list drawn up by Yevgeniy Minchenko, Problema 2012 i Politburo, accessed 3 Jan. 2012. He notes the numerous people on the fringes of this permanent group. The use of the term 'politburo' should not be assumed to equate to ideas of a reconstituted 'Politburo of the USSR'. See also Dmitri Orlov, 'Start vuiborov i evolyutsiya tandema: analiticheski doklad', 17 May 2011, accessed 3 Jan. 2012; Yevgeniy Minchenko and Gleb Pavlovsky, cited in Dmitri Treshanin, 'Putin uzhe ne mozhet konsolidirovat' elitu', Svobodnaya Pressa, 2 March 2011.
32. For excellent discussion of internal frictions, see Sakwa, The crisis of Russian democracy, esp. pp.; Kryshtanovskaya and White, 'Inside the Putin court'184-210
33. Brian Whitmore, 'The powerless vertical', Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 10 June 2011, accessed 4 Nov. 2011
34. Reddaway, 'Two part Czar'. The author is also grateful to Wayne Allensworth for his observations on this issue.
35. Lara Ryazanova-Clarke, 'How upright is the vertical? Ideological norm negotiation in Russian media discourse', in Ingunn Lunde and Martin Paulson, eds, From poets to padonki: linguistic authority and norm negotiation in modern Russian culture (Bergen: University of Bergen2009293-4.
36. Sakwa, The crisis of Russian democracy33.
37. Alexander Goltz, 'Putin's power vertical stretches back to Kursk', Moscow Times, 17 Aug. 2010.
38. Stoner-Weiss, Resisting the state147155
39. Richard Sakwa, Putin: Russia's choice (London: Routledge, 2004237-8.
40. Zaznaev, 'The presidentialisation of a semi-presidential regime37.
41. Vyacheslav Nikonov, cited in Sakwa, The crisis of Russian democracy32
42. author's correspondence with Sakwa.
43. I am grateful to participants in a round-table discussion at Chatham House for this point.
44. Ksenia Dubicheva, 'Polpredstvo: na Urale ne ispolnyayut porucheniya prezidenta RF', Rossiiskaya gazeta, 21 July 2011. The article lists a number of other orders also unfulfilled:, accessed 3 Jan.2012.
45. Henry Gaffney, Ken Gause and Dmitry Gorenburg, Russian leadership decision-making under Vladimir Putin: the issues of energy, technology transfer, and non-proliferation (Alexandria, VA: Center for Naval Analyses, August20074.
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48. Yulia Latynina, 'Kod dostupa', Radio Ekho Moskvui, 26 April, accessed 3 Jan. 2012. I am grateful to participants at a seminar at the NATO Defense College in May 2011 for a discussion on this point.2008
49. Itogi goda s prezidentom rossii', televised interview with Dmitry Medvedev, 24 Dec. 2010, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
50. Maxim Agarkov, 'Modernizatsiya vertikali', Expert, no. 4, 1 Feb. 2010.
51. Vertikal' loyal'nosti', Nezavisimaya gazeta24 March 2010.
52. Chuichenko, cited in 'Kremlin seeks list of punished officials', Moscow Times, 23 June 2010.
53. Elina Bilevskaya, 'Prezidentski kontrol v rezhime onlain', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 28 Oct. 2010.
54. Sergei Ivanov on disciplinary measures for failure to fulfil the state defence order, 17 May 2011, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
55. Cited in Hanson, 'Networks, cronies and business plans131.
56. Medvedev speaking at Expanded Security Council Meeting on Fire Safety Measures for Strategic Facilities, 4 Aug., 2010., accessed 9 Jan. 2012.
57. Ispitaniye ognom', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 12 Aug. 2010.
58. Nurgaliev obmanul prezidenta', Moskovsky komsomolets, 7 Feb. 2011.
59. Alexandra Samarina and Rosa Tsvetkova, 'Stranu khvatil paralich upravlenie', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 11 Feb. 2011.
60. Whitmore, 'The powerless vertical'.
61. Vertikal' loyal'nosti'.
62. Yulia Latynina, 'Roi ili antibulochnik', Novaya gazeta, 25 Jan. 2010, and 'Zastupnik eliti', Ezhednevni zhurnal, 14 Jan. 2011.
63. Aleksei Navalni: Medvedev tozhe "plokhoi politseiski"', Radio Svoboda, 13 May 2011; Igor Nikolayev, "Vsekh uvolit", 4 Aug. 2010, accessed 3 Jan. 2012
64. Mikhail V'yugin and Alexander Deryabin, 'Senator Torshin prizval vooruzhit grazhdan', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 11 July 2011.
65. Sakwa, The crisis of Russian democracy29-32
66. Vladislav L. Inozemtsev, 'Neo-feudalism explained', American Interest, March-April 2011, accessed 3 Jan. 2012.
67. Inozemtsev, 'Neo-feudalism explained'; 'Mif o burokratii: nevernaya problema', Vedomosti, 17 Feb. 2010.
68. The author is grateful to Silvana Malle for emphasizing this point.
69. Pavel Baev, 'Crooked hierarchy and reshuffled networks: reforming Russia's dysfunctional military machine', in Kononenko and Moshes, eds, Russia as a network state, esp. pp. 68, For similar frictions in big business, see Philip Hanson, 'Networks, cronies and business plans'.71-3
70. Medvedev speaking to the meeting of the Russian government, Moscow, 29 Dec. 2010, accessed 9 Jan. 2012.
71. Medvedev cited in Alexandra Samarina, 'Prezident protiv ruchnovo upravleniya', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 8 June 2011. See also Whitmore's discussion in 'The powerless vertical'.
72. Aleksei Makarkin, cited in 'Strane nuzhen glas da glaz', Izvestiya, 14 Sept. 2010.
73. Samarina, 'Prezident protiv'.
74. Irina Filatova, 'Anti-graft cameras show fields', Moscow Times, 13 Aug. 2010.
75. For an excellent discussion of this concept, see Alena Ledeneva, 'The genealogy of Krugovaya Poruka: forced trust as a feature of Russian political culture', in Ivana Markova, ed., Trust and democratic transition in post-communist Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
76. Putin kak chast naroda', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 10 Aug. 2010.
77. Inozemtsev, 'Neo-feudalism explained'.