CIAO DATE: 03/2011
May 2010
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
The impact of the global financial crisis (a 9% GDP drop in 2009) initiated a heated domestic debate as to whether Russia’s performance legitimacy, the hallmark of the Putin years, should in the Medvedev presidency be buttressed by increased procedural legitimacy. Given the fundamental nature of this issue (the distribution and exercise of power, privilege and wealth) a highly contested debate over which strategic pathway Russia should adopt has unfolded, with elite opinion and interest appears divided between whether to continue with a ‘conservative’ or embrace a ‘democratic’ modernization paradigm.
Resource link: Russia's Strategic Choice [PDF] - 164K