Leadership in Russia
I've seen a lot of commentary about the "managed democracy" that Putin seems to be creating in Russia, but I hadn't given much thought to the St. Petersburg-Moscow rivalry. Chloe Arnold, writing on the RFE/RL web site has written about the origins of Putin's restructuring of the Russian regime.This article also raises questions about leadership recruitment and about the characteristics of Russian leadership. I sense the opportunity for comparative case studies, perhaps as review exercises.
How does recruitment in Russia compare with that in China or Iran? Or in the UK or Mexico?
How do the characteristics needed for political leadership in Russia compare with those needed in Nigeria? Mexcio?
Russia: St. Petersburg -- The Cradle Of The Political Elite
"...St. Petersburg -- also known in the past as Petrograd and then Leningrad -- has long produced many members of Russia's ruling elites..."Aleksander Smirnov is a historian and a guide [to] an exhibition called '300 Years Of St. Petersburg In Russian Politics.'
"'When Vladimir Putin became the president...' Smirnov said. 'He needed to establish a new kind of politics, because for him it was obvious that the regime of the 1990s would lead the country nowhere. But he couldn't rely on the politicians in Moscow, because they were too close to the people we call the 'oligarchs,' those people who got mixed up in corruption. For Putin it was important to bring in a new era of what he saw as the Petersburg phenomenon, the Petersburg mentality, and he could only do this by bringing in new faces. And so he chose his government from people that he knew personally.'...
"'Our exhibition is evidence of the fact that this is not the only episode when St. Petersburgers have been in power,' he says. 'Throughout the 20th century, the city on the Neva has attempted to nominate whole teams of St. Petersburgers, or individuals, who try to steer their own political course in Moscow.'...
"Yevgeny Artyomov, the director of the museum, says... 'Since Leningrad is known as the window on Europe, perhaps the fresh winds of democracy blow toward St. Petersburg faster than, say, to those living closer to Asia...'
"Smirnov doesn't entirely agree. He describes some of the traits that distinguish St. Petersburgers from other Russians.
"'The first is modernization,' he says. 'The second trait of political leaders from St. Petersburg -- well, I don't agree with those who say that they are democratic. On the contrary, many of them tend to be fond of strong authority, a strong personality who, because of this, takes all the responsibility.'...
"But for Irina Kondrashova, a lecturer at the St. Petersburg State Polytechnic Institute, the real concern is not that today's leaders come from one city.
"'What worries me is that all the political leaders from St. Petersburg come from one organization,' she says. 'The KGB has nothing to do with a geographic location. It's an organization. And I'd say it would be more useful to discuss that type of person -- the type that belongs to that organization, who was educated in that system and now lives by its rules. It seems to me that in the current situation it's not important where a person comes from, geographically speaking.'"
See also
- Russian Presidential Candidates
- Discouraging political competition in Russia
- Politics of democratization in Russia
- Recruiting leaders in Russia
- Encouraging Apathy or Competition?
- Russia's 'managed democracy' (BBC News)
Labels: leadership, Russia
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home