Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Creating an opposition

To date, top level politics in Russia have centered on Putin and Medvedev, not on issues. Those two and their allies in the siloviki (power ministries) have created an "opposition" party, Right Cause, and chosen its leader, Mikhail Prokhorov. Now, Mr. Prokhorov has held a press conference, saying he might be willing to become prime minister and offering some policy alternatives.

Is this more than a way to create the illusion of alternatives to the Putin-Medvedev government that's likely to continue after next year's elections?

Russian billionaire eyes PM’s job, calls for move to euro zone

Metals tycoon and New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, whose emergence as a party leader in Russia is one of the brainteasers of the political season, said Thursday that he would consider accepting the post of prime minister next spring – but only if he likes the agenda of the incoming president…

Mr. Prokhorov, 46, steamed ahead, revealing almost nothing about his platform except for one proposal: That Russia abandon its 700-year-old currency, the ruble, in favour of the euro.

A flurry of commentary ensued, filling the strange political vacuum that that has characterized this summer in Moscow. Though momentous decisions hang in the balance – whether Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will remain in power for another decade, and whether the state he constructed will be preserved or gradually liberalized – discussion of these issues has gone silent. The realization has set in that these choices will be made far from public view, and by a small circle of people…

Mr. Prokhorov’s role in Russia’s politics has been ambiguous for some time. He accumulated a fortune estimated at $17.8-billion, in part by selling his stake in a giant nickel company just before the 2008 financial crash, a step he was forced to take after falling out of favour with the government. This summer he was elected the leader of Right Cause, becoming the first businessman to be allowed into Russian politics in nearly a decade, since the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Right Cause is a pro-Western party that the Kremlin is supporting in hopes that it will attract wealthy and well-educated people who are disenchanted with United Russia. Mr. Prokhorov, therefore, is semi-loyal. He does not hesitate to attack the ruling party or call for restoration of some of the political freedoms that were rolled back under Mr. Putin, but he has not criticized Mr. Putin himself…