Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, July 30, 2012

Undemocratization in Russia

Editors at The Economist interpret recent actions by the Russian Duma as steps toward reestablishing a non-democratic regime.

If you can’t suppress them, squeeze them

In a flurry of hurried voting, the country’s parliament passed a series of laws—on NGOs, defamation, and the internet—meant to stiffen spines inside the regime and scare off and splinter those who are most actively opposed to it.

Duma debating Internet restrictions

Despite signs of resistance from parties once deemed loyal to the Kremlin, the Duma is still under the control of the firmly pro-Kremlin United Russia party… Mr Putin loth to see Russia become a Belarus-style pariah overnight, the Kremlin decided that, “If you can’t suppress them, squeeze them,” says Boris Makarenko of Centre for Political Technologies, a think-tank.

The legislative offensive began last month, with a law raising fines on those who attend unsanctioned demonstrations…Then came last week’s three new bills. The first would force NGOs that receive funding from abroad to submit to more rigorous financial checks and publicly declare themselves to be “foreign agents”, a term designed to discredit their work; the second would recriminalise libel… the third would create a “blacklist” of websites to be blocked, ostensibly so as to protect children from illegal or harmful content, but relying on technology that could be used against any online material the state decides to ban.

In what has become a habit, Duma deputies point abroad to justify the new laws and procedures, comparing them to America’s Foreign Agents Registration Act… Meanwhile one of the authors of the internet bill, Elena Mizulina, insists the legislation is meant only to protect children and families, and cannot be abused for political purposes.

What ultimately lies behind the Duma’s new laws is a mixture of nervousness about a political environment that is wholly unfamiliar, and a belief in the tough methods of Mr Putin’s previous stints as president. It is not certain they will be as effective as in the past…