Russia between Autocracy and Democracy

Abstract

Whereas most post-communist regimes have long since been attributed a fixed spot on the autocracy-democracy spectrum, the Russian Federation’s place is still heavily debated. Regional specialists as well as comparativists offer different, sometimes strongly contradictory analyses, covering all possible characteristics from somehow democratic like limited democracy or democracy with adjectives to autocratic as liberal autocracy or even autocracy with some fascist features. Some scholars argued that the political regime in post-Soviet Russia is a deviant case. In the framework of these theoretical debates, we seek to answer the question “What's the Matter with Russia?” (Shevtsova 2010). Furthermore, we aim to contribute to further development of the theoretical concept(s) of autocracy by testing them on a particularly “difficult case”. The proposed panel focuses on the following topics: 1) a general analysis of the Russian political system and its possible development paths; 2) key features of the polity (such as constitutional basis, executive-legislative relations etc.) and 3) main characteristics of the policy process such as development of a hegemonial party system at the national and regional level, the Judiciary and its role in Russian politics, informal structures and practices in economy and politics, public opinion in Russia. Other topics concerning the Russian politics and economy are also welcomed. The panel will encourage not only theoretically based research, but especially papers with a strong empirical base.

Title	Details
Emergence of Authoritarian Regimes within the Post-Soviet Context: Russia in Comparative Perspective	View Paper Details
Patterns of Governance in the Russian Regions	View Paper Details
Regime Building versus State Building in Post-Communist Russia: Towards a Theory of Russian Political Development	View Paper Details
From USSR to Russian Federation : Sociology of a Regime Change	View Paper Details
Responsive politics in Russia: How the Russian case shapes our understanding of autocracy and democracy	View Paper Details
New Authoritarian Regimes and the Public Space. An Analysis of Russia’s Institutionalised Civil Society	View Paper Details
Communicative competence of Russia´s civil society	View Paper Details