I am not sure if I share this culturalist take on why the Russians won't protest. In the 1980s and early 1990s they seemed very capable of protesting. They also staged revolutions in 1905 and 1917.
I think that Putin has consolidated power very effectively through his network of secret services and oligarchs. And he benefitted from the fact that the Yeltsin era was a period of turmoil, so many Russians see democracy as messy and chaotic.
There are also ultranationalist, religious extremist and militarist elements that provide support for Putin.
Even in democratic countries we see the rise of authoritarianism. If we can't keep what we have, it's hard to blame pro democracy Russians for not being able to organise a revolution in such a tightly controlled and corrupt authoritarian system.
The protests of the 80s and 90s were sanctioned by the KGB that were trying to regain power., and culminated in the attempted coup in 1991. The revolution in 1917 was financed by Germany and Austria. The Decembrist revolution of 1825 and the 1905 revolutions were indeed organic and stemmed from the middle classes, but they were crushed immediately. The pro-democracy Russians have also failed to come to some sort of agreement. They’re fragmented. If you haven’t already I can direct you to Andrei Soldatov and Irina Bologna’s latest in-depth book, The Compatriots. That’s just one but there is a lot of lit in Russian. Peter Pomerantsev has talked about and written how the system of repression goes back to the Mongul period. It’s my view that Russia has never really lived through a true Renaissance period, where man, not God or any other higher authority, is at the centre of existence. Dina khapaeva has written extensively about this. Is there anyone in Russia that could emerge to replace Putin as we would like? Someone with agency and legitimacy? I can’t see it, and I would rather work on how we’re going to deal with this because we will have to at some point. Thanks for your thoughts, very much appreciated. Mo
I am not sure if I share this culturalist take on why the Russians won't protest. In the 1980s and early 1990s they seemed very capable of protesting. They also staged revolutions in 1905 and 1917.
I think that Putin has consolidated power very effectively through his network of secret services and oligarchs. And he benefitted from the fact that the Yeltsin era was a period of turmoil, so many Russians see democracy as messy and chaotic.
There are also ultranationalist, religious extremist and militarist elements that provide support for Putin.
Even in democratic countries we see the rise of authoritarianism. If we can't keep what we have, it's hard to blame pro democracy Russians for not being able to organise a revolution in such a tightly controlled and corrupt authoritarian system.
The protests of the 80s and 90s were sanctioned by the KGB that were trying to regain power., and culminated in the attempted coup in 1991. The revolution in 1917 was financed by Germany and Austria. The Decembrist revolution of 1825 and the 1905 revolutions were indeed organic and stemmed from the middle classes, but they were crushed immediately. The pro-democracy Russians have also failed to come to some sort of agreement. They’re fragmented. If you haven’t already I can direct you to Andrei Soldatov and Irina Bologna’s latest in-depth book, The Compatriots. That’s just one but there is a lot of lit in Russian. Peter Pomerantsev has talked about and written how the system of repression goes back to the Mongul period. It’s my view that Russia has never really lived through a true Renaissance period, where man, not God or any other higher authority, is at the centre of existence. Dina khapaeva has written extensively about this. Is there anyone in Russia that could emerge to replace Putin as we would like? Someone with agency and legitimacy? I can’t see it, and I would rather work on how we’re going to deal with this because we will have to at some point. Thanks for your thoughts, very much appreciated. Mo