1. Janet Elise Johnson Brooklyn College, CUNY Johnson@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Russia’s dual state
Janet Elise Johnson
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Presented June 13, 2011 at the AP reading for Comp GoPo

2. Objectives PRACTICAL To update information about Russia
To introduce a potentially useful theoretical framework for understanding Russia
NORMATIVE
To illustrate how to integrate social justice concerns
MORE SPECULATIVE
To suggest some radical ways to begin to reimagine comparative politics
Objectives
Janet Elise

3. censored last Thursday by EP for restricting opposiition rights
Upcoming “elections” in Russia
Duma elections scheduled for December 2011
Presidential elections for March 2012 
“Democratic recession” around the globe since 2008*
Moving beyond the transition paradigm
thicker concept of democracy: electoral democracy vs. constitutional liberalism
many states in the grey zone: “hybrid regimes” and “soft authoritarianism” ?
Context
Janet Elise
*Larry Diamond “Democracy Rollback,” Foreign Affairs

4. The basic way I teach comparative political institutions*
POLITICAL SOCIETY
STATE
Executive
Bureaucracy
Judiciary
Military and Intelligence
Parliaments
Parties
Elections
CIVIL SOCIETY
Key organizations and their prominence
Conditions for civil society:
independence of the media
Protection of civil liberties
Corrup-tion
*thanks to Jean C. Robinson

5. The dual state
like 1930s Germany where a prerogative state that exercised power arbitrarily and without constraints existed alongside a constitutional state
legitimacy is rooted in constitutionalism, but a parallel Byzantine parapolitics of factions & informal groups
not just de facto vs. de jure, but paraconstitutionalism
consolidated through Putin’s modernization program to “normalize” the Yeltsin period

6. 1. Executive-parliamentary relations
most obvious example of dual state: Putin’s 2008 move from Pres to PM
Putin’s commitment to a modernizing project and the letter of the constitution vs. his commitment to governance rooted in Russian traditions
result: what Russians call tandemocracy*
power sharing between Putin and Medvedev since 2008 elections
based on a personal agreement
important disagreements
1. Executive-parliamentary relations
*Perhaps the “The Team” for the oligarchy see
Janet Elise

7. Semi-presidential Superexecutive
Constitution: Duma must approve president’s PM nominee
Typical categorization by comparative politics textbooks
a form of government in which presidents are more than just figureheads but are ultimately subordinate to the parliament
Costs of rejecting nominee three times precipitates dissolution
Fish (2000): superpresidentialism
huge apparatus of executive power
presidential control of the purse
presidential decrees
almost impossible impeachment
little legislative oversight
little judicial oversight
Janet Elise

8. Neither or both?
Failure of constitutional liberalism or lack of a spirit of constitutionalism?
Janet Elise

9. 2. The media Freedom of expression No freedom of the press*
def: freedom to say what you want
independent small audience media proliferating: print dailies and weeklies, smaller TV stations, blogs, etc.
def: ability to hold the govt accountable
govt take over of national TV stations
no live political talk shows or political satire
biased coverage of terrorism and Chechnya
mysterious contract killings of journalists
2. The media
Janet Elise
*Masha Lipman & Michael McFaul in After Putin’s Russia (2010)

10. 3. Dual system of law Rule by law Not rule of law Putin strengthened
qualifications
accountability
accessibility
police now must get search warrants
more jury trials & jurors becoming activists
“telephone justice”
FSB getting acquittals reversed, not allowing jury trials, going after defense attorneys
1/5 ECHR cases are from Russia (pays fines, but no policy change)
Khodorkovksy just won $35,000 for rights abuse
3. Dual system of law
Janet Elise

11. 4. “Parallel parliaments”*
Duma
primary legislature
elected through PR w/ 7% threshold
Federation Council
represents regions
Public Chamber (2005)
forum for policy discussion
members chosen by Putin
State Council (2000)
7 governors chosen by Kremlin
4. “Parallel parliaments”*
Janet Elise
*Thomas Remington in After Putin’s Russia (2010)

12. 5. Parties and elections But, dominant party system secured through
Elections where multiple parties win
President
Duma
mayors
But, dominant party system secured through
loyal majority since 2000s, supramajority since 2003
Party of power (United Russia) throughout country
change electoral rules to eliminate regional powers
direct control of Fed Council
justified through war on terrorism
5. Parties and elections
Duality: Creation of “loyal opposition”
Janet Elise

13. 6. “Imitation civil society”*
many NGOs remain untouched
protests have increased, especially regarding social issues
some have even succeeded
Public Chamber channels and funds favored NGOs
Kremlin-supported groups such as Nashi etc.
6. “Imitation civil society”*
Janet Elise
*Masha Lipman

14. 7. Fake federalism Asymmetric ethnofederalism
Power vertical by siloviki
7 federal districts/supergovernors
appted FC with a lot of Kremlin input
appted governors with a lot of Kremlin input
United Russia as a superparty and banning regional political parties
changing to PR (over FPTP) nationally and regionally
constitution
but chaotic decentralization under Yeltsin
bilateral treaties
ad hoc
“brown areas”
7. Fake federalism
Janet Elise

15. 8. Dual economy all companies have two sets of books
appearance of transparency for FDI
but then use shell companies, off-shore banking, etc.
two ways of doing things: legally and through bribes
8. Dual economy
Janet Elise

16. Regime type: democratic, hybrid, or authoritarianism
Regime type: democratic, hybrid, or authoritarianism? “Authoritarian democracy”*
*several AP Comp GoPo students, Q8, 2011, who aren’t getting credit for assessing the regime type of Russia
Janet Elise

17. Intersectional consequences
Intersectional consequences
Janet Elise

18. Women in formal politics
Interparliamentary Union,
Janet Elise

19. a. Gender more women in formal politics women dominate NGO sector
facilitated by transnational women’s movement pressures and European supranational institutions
but in the parallel universe
siloviki dominate
KGB-like strategies: compromat
national identity fostered through homophobic masculinity (muzhik)
Janet Elise

20. b. +Social class Parallel universe control by all male oligarchs
just as corrupt as before, if not more so
huge rich/poor gap
disastrous working age male mortality
but women entrepreneurship and increased state paternalism:
crisis centers + maternity capital
“Accessible Surroundings” for the disabled
b. +Social class
Janet Elise

21. Responsible man campaign
Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity, 2008 (Moscow Times)
Health like a habit, 2008
Responsible man campaign
Janet Elise

22. c. +Race: Chechnya Grozny 2007-9 Janet Elise Johnson@brooklyn.cuny.edu
c. +Race: Chechnya
Janet Elise

23. parallel universe Pres. Khadyrov veiling by paintball, 2011
veiling by paintball, 2011

24. Corrupting the accountability mechanisms of democracy, but not unconstitutional Undermining institutions by making personalistic despite the temporary stability/growth
Janet Elise

25. Implications move beyond transition theory:
use “hybrid” countries as at the model not the West
isn’t dual system also at work in Western countries?
financial crisis created by unelected officials
the virtual finance economy dwarfs the real economy
not bribe-paying, not clientalism, mostly perfectly legal
Implications
Janet Elise

26. gendered consequences: Iceland
male architects of financial crisis undermined the most powerful women’s policy agency in the world
but then: government collapse, replaced with a gender balanced government, 40% quota for corp boards by 2012*
Women’s Strike 2010
gendered consequences: Iceland *
Janet Elise

27. Janet Elise Johnson@brooklyn.cuny.edu

28. Can we really think about politics anywhere without the parallel universe?
Janet Elise