Периферийный авторитаризм. Как и куда пришла Россия

The control of the very top over the entire system, its governability and sense of stability have been undermined by a sharp reduction of growth rates and mounting difficulties in extracting dictatorial rent from the economy to be distributed among the privileged bureaucracy and thus uphold the autocratic rule. That produced the need to find new instruments to consolidate the system like more official indoctrination and control over media, accentuating real and imaginary dangers from external and internal “enemies”, fostering the feeling of being victimized by a hostile world.

Hence, the situation could not be reversed easily by a single decision, even if Putin were prepared to make it. To turn the tide back, systemic changes in the mindset and world vision of the Russian political class are a necessary condition. This is a fundamentally difficult task that would take years to solve, but there is no other way to achieve a lasting settlement. Attempts to solve the issue by sanctions and private deals with Putin will be short-lived and ultimately fruitless. The only practical way to prevent Russia from fundamentally isolating itself from the West is to make it choose a difficult and painful road of converging with the mainstream of global capitalism and adapting to its realities and to wage an honest dialogue with the Russian political class at large.

Автор выражает признательность за поддержку при подготовке книги, участие в обсуждении и редактировании рукописи В.В. Когану-Ясному, В.Г. Швыдко, А.В. Космынину, а также редактору Ю.А. Здоровову.