Content Type: Working Paper / Political Geography: Eastern Europe / Publication Year: within 10 Years / Topic: Authoritarianism

Author:: Leo Goretti and Sofia Mariconti
Publication Date:: 01-2023
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Dedication to sport and physical prowess have been key elements in the construction of Vladimir Putin’s image since his rise to the Presidency of Russia. Domestically, the Kremlin has promoted a public representation of the President as a strong, energetic, decisive leader who is ‘fit for the job’. Constant emphasis has been placed on how sports – especially judo and those harking back to the Soviet past, such as sambo – forged the manly qualities of Putin, turning him into the living paradigm of Russian hegemonic masculinity. At the international level, Putin’s vigorous and masculine leadership has been turned into a proxy for Russia’s restored status: in the early 2000s, to mark a neat break from the ‘decadence’ of the 1990s; subsequently, to suggest the return of Russia to its great-power status. Hostility against human – especially LGBT – rights in sport has become central to this discourse, not only because they are suggestive of alleged Western decadence, but also because they threaten the gender norms and public image on which Putin’s leadership has been built.
Topic:: Authoritarianism, Sports, Leadership, and Masculinity
Political Geography:: Russia, Turkey, Eastern Europe, and Balkans

Author:: Jussi Lassila
Publication Date:: 09-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:: Peopleʼs grievances were not reflected in Russia’s regional elections this year. The Kremlin is reaping the benefits of increasingly blatant electoral fraud and citizensʼ political apathy.
Topic:: Authoritarianism, Elections, Rigged Elections, and Opposition
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Eastern Europe

Author:: Grigory Ioffe
Publication Date:: 12-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Popular narrative tropes are not always accurate predictors of how a story will ultimately develop. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the former presidential hopeful and a person believed by many to have won the presidential elections of August 9, is widely seen as a positive character in the unfolding Belarusian drama. Courageous and likable, she does her best to rally international support for the protest movement in her home country.
Topic:: Authoritarianism, Elections, Protests, and Public Relations
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe and Belarus

Author:: Jussi Lassila
Publication Date:: 09-2019
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:: The Kremlin is trying to learn lessons from old problems regarding its electoral authoritarian system, but new ones are constantly emerging. At the heart of these is the Kremlin’s party system.
Topic:: Authoritarianism, Elections, Election watch, Local, and Party System
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Eastern Europe

Author:: Sean Clark
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for the Study of Security and Development, Dalhousie University
Abstract:: The central contention here is that Russia's outbursts of international hostility are a reflection of the very nature of the Putin regime. They can be explained as the conscious choice of a regime striving to maintain power, decisions conditioned in turn by deep-seated pathologies that limit the Kremlin's room for maneuver. What follows is a discussion of these constraints, as well as consideration how best to deal with them.
Topic:: Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Authoritarianism, and Legitimacy
Political Geography:: Russia, Eurasia, Eastern Europe, and Crimea

Author:: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies
Publication Date:: 01-2016
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:: Symbolic ensembles that are often displayed in the public sphere by right-wing populists are “thick” in this sense. They include many inter-locked symbols that – in combination – allow for a narrower range of possible interpretations and thus attract a smaller, in this case right wing leaning group of people. They constitute the symbolic base of Polish thick populism, an exclusionary and polarizing political-cultural formation, that at the moment is supported by well over one third of the Polish population, controls the government, and slowly dismantles Polish liberal democracy.
Topic:: Authoritarianism, Democracy, and Domestic Politics
Political Geography:: Europe, Eastern Europe, and Poland

Author:: Christian von Soest and Julia Grauvogel
Publication Date:: 08-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: The analysis using the new Regime Legitimation Expert Survey (RLES) demonstrates that non‐democratic rulers in post‐Soviet countries use specific combinations of legitimating claims to stay in power. Most notably, rulers claim to be the guardians of citizens’ socio‐ economic well‐being. Second, despite recurrent infringements on political and civil rights, they maintain that their power is rule‐based and embodies the will of the people, as they have been given popular electoral mandates. Third, they couple these elements with input‐based legitimation strategies that focus on nationalist ideologies, the personal capabilities and charismatic aura of the rulers, and the regime’s foundational myth. Overall, the reliance on these input‐based strategies is lower in the western post‐Soviet Eurasian countries and very pronounced among the authoritarian rulers of Central Asia.
Topic:: Democratization, Authoritarianism, and Political Activism
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

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