"Evidently, Mr. Putin doesn't believe that democracy can work efficiently in present-day Russia," says Lilia Shevtsova, prominent political analyst and Moscow Carnegie Centre head expert. As she sees it, the President is wary of democracy undermining Russian territorial integrity.
"He is afraid he'll lose control if he gives the reins," Miss Shevtsova said to the influential Moscow-based daily, Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Whatever his innermost motives might be, Vladimir Putin is a firm partisan of authoritarian modernisation ideas. We can hardly expect him to give them up before his presidential term finishes: "He is too much of a man of system while it takes a revolutionary to demolish an established political arrangement."
The analyst has the following explanation for the complacency with which Russian regional leaders responded to Putin's initiative: it offers them a chance to shift off their public responsibilities-it is far easier to humour a president than a province. "The President is far away, and the inspectors he is sending may be bribed," she sarcastically remarked.
Meanwhile, no one appears to pay the slightest attention to an evident threat to the regime that will come if Russia dismantles its election system, the only tool to make that regime legitimate. "Regional bosses are docilely putting up with prospects to be appointed by the President. That shows just how servile is the entire Russian officialdom. Many think this officialdom makes a firm basis for a dictatorship. As the matter really stands, however, servility is our home-grown form of bureaucratic sabotage. Can those functionaries ever make a tough authoritarian vertical?" Bureaucrats may like the prospect of the President shouldering all responsibilities-but that does not mean they will obey him in everything: "To all appearances, we are in for an imitation authoritarianism."
Miss Shevtsova does not think President Putin regards stronger personal power as an end in itself. Unlike Mikhail Gorbachev or Boris Yeltsin before him, his political survival is not questionable, and he has no problem retaining leadership. "With such public ratings as he has, Mr. Putin can easily afford not to move a finger. He can ride, learn English or concentrate on foreign politics-in which he is an expert. However, here he comes and launches painful social reforms that may rob him of popularity.
"I think Putin is aware of his historic mission, and that mission is what makes him tick. As I see it, he regarded Russia's updating as that mission till quite recently. Now, public safety has come into the foreground. That is a far harder job-he is to combine modernisation, in some way, with guaranteed security. Vladimir Putin came to office as Stability President. Can he afford to leave as Mr. Instability?" the Carnegie expert rounded off her analyses.
