scholarly journals Power and Ideology: Vladimir Putin and the Russian Political System

2008 ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred B. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
International System ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
The Core ◽  
Vladimir Putin ◽  
The Relationship

This paper explores the ideas that have been offered by the Putin leadership in Russia to justify the concentration of power achieved since 2000. Though Vladimir Putin has said that Russia does not need a state ideology, since early 2006 some officials associated with Putin, including Vladislav Surkov, have called for an ideology for the dominant United Russia Party, and have asserted that Putin’s speeches provide the core of that ideology. This essay discusses Putin’s position on Russia’s commitment to democracy, the relationship between Russia and Europe, and the nature of the international system in which Russia fi nds itself. The author sees the concept of “sovereign democracy” that has been offered by Surkov and endorsed by United Russia as summarizing ideas that already had been articulated by Putin. Putin’s words strongly emphasize the importance of a consensus of values in Russian society and politics. That theme has important implications for the relationship between the state and civil society in Russia. Evans argues that the ideological pronouncements of the Putin leadership refl ect tension between apparently inconsistent principles resulting from a combination of inherently contradictory themes. Putin identifi es the main danger facing Russia in the contemporary period as disintegration rather than stagnation.

In a word, I’ve been there

2019 ◽  
pp. 246-256
Author(s):  
A. K. Zholkovsky
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Core Problem ◽  
Typical Solution

In his article, A. Zholkovsky discusses the contemporary detective mini-series Otlichnitsa [A Straight-A Student], which mentions O. Mandelstam’s poem for children A Galosh [Kalosha]: more than a fleeting mention, this poem prompts the characters and viewers alike to solve the mystery of its authorship. According to the show’s plot, the fact that Mandelstam penned the poem surfaces when one of the female characters confesses her involvement in his arrest. Examining this episode, Zholkovsky seeks structural parallels with the show in V. Aksyonov’s Overstocked Packaging Barrels [Zatovarennaya bochkotara] and even in B. Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago [Doktor Zhivago]: in each of those, a member of the Soviet intelligentsia who has developed a real fascination with some unique but unattainable object is shocked to realize that the establishment have long enjoyed this exotic object without restrictions. We observe, therefore, a typical solution to the core problem of the Soviet, and more broadly, Russian cultural-political situation: the relationship between the intelligentsia and the state, and the resolution is not a confrontation, but reconciliation.

MAIN APPROACHES TO INTERACTION BETWEEN THE STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 133-139
Author(s):  
E. A. GRIBENNIKOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Advisory Councils ◽  
Public Advisory ◽  
The Russian Federation

The article considers the issue of interaction between the state and civil society, analyzes the main approaches and models of such interaction. The author notes the important consolidating role played by public and public Advisory Councils under state authorities in Russian society.

Eine komplexe Friedenstheologie und Friedensethik

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Mierzwa
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Ethical Approach ◽  
Difficult Question ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Preferential Option ◽  
Religionless Christianity ◽  
The Relationship

Peace has to be thought of in a more complex way, which is mainly stimulated by women from civil society. Many questions can no longer be addressed in a thematically and politically isolated or delimited way; chains of action and challenges are too interwoven. So far, too little attention has been paid to the preferential option for the poor, the approach of religionless Christianity and a feminist-liberation-theological-pacifist approach. Topics that are more marginal, such as a peace-ethical approach to money and the relationship between peace and health, are also addressed. Finally, the difficult question of how far one may still cooperate with the state when one is on the trail of peace is explored.

Trade Unions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political System ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Modern Britain ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Moments

In assessing the relationship between trade unions and British politics, this chapter has two focuses. First, it examines the role of trade unions as significant intermediate associations within the political system. They have been significant as the means for the development of citizenship and involvement in society, as well as a restraint upon the power of the state. Their power has also raised questions about the relationship between the role of associations and the freedom of the individual. Second, the chapter considers critical moments when the trade unions challenged the authority of governments, especially in the periods 1918–26 and 1979–85. Both of these lines of inquiry underline the importance of conservatism in the achievement of stability in modern Britain.

The evolution of policing in post-soviet Russia: Paternalism versus service in police. Officers’ understanding of their role

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Semukhina
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Early Period ◽  
The State ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Institutional Identity ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Second Period

This paper examines two interrelated issues: the role of police as an institution of Russian society and their role during the past 25 years. This research is based on a series of indepth interviews conducted by the author in 2014–2016 with former and current police officers in three Russian cities. The paper traces changes in the perceived institutional roles of the Russian police by comparing police officers’ views during three periods: early through mid-1990s, late-1990s through mid-2000s, and mid-2000s through 2010s. The study reports that, during the early period, Russian police were disfranchised from the state and this abandonment was a source of institutional identity crisis for law enforcement officers who remained on the job. This process was coupled with high levels of job dissatisfaction and the overall feeling of “abandonment” of police by the state.At the same time, it was during this post-Soviet period, when ideas of policing as a service to the society were introduced and sometimes entertained among the professional circles of police officers and other government officials. Furthermore, this period was marked by continuous, though often sporadic, institutional reforms and anti-corruption measures.In the second period, the Russian police were slowly engaging back into the state-building process, which caused increased job satisfaction and better retention rates. At the same time, the second period signified a decline of the “police as service” ideology and the comeback of paternalistic views on policing. During this time, the government’s efforts to reform police and anti-corruption measures became systemic and better organized. Also, in the second period, members of the civil society became more active in demanding public accountability and transparency from the Russian police.Finally, the modern period of police development presents a case in which the institutional identity of the Russian police has been clearly connected to the state’s capacity. This process is coupled with increased paternalistic views among police officers and a failure of “police as a service” doctrine. In such an environment, the efforts by a maturing civil society to demand public transparency and accountability of the police are often met with hostility and anger. The paper concludes that further development of the Russian police depends on the role that they will play within the modern Russian state.

Civil Society, Social Movements and the Irish State

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peadar Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
Free Market ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Corporate Profit ◽  
Fianna Fail

This article develops a theoretical framework to consider the symbiotic relationship between civil society, social movements and the Irish state. Civil society, largely through social movements, laid the foundations for an independent Irish state in the half-century before independence. Following independence, the nature of the civil society–state relationship changed; civil society became much more dependent on the state. The article empirically traces the nature of society's relationship to the state since the 1920s, and examines the nature of the political system and its major political party, Fianna Fáil, the structure of the economy, and the dominance of particular understandings of the role of civil society and the nature of society itself. The period since the advent of social partnership in 1987 is examined; this period marks a new attempt by the state to co-opt organised civil society making it subservient to its project of the imposition on society of the requirements of global corporate profit-making. The more forceful implementation of a global free-market project by the Irish state since the 1980s, and the co-option of organised civil society into this project, has left huge space for an alternative to emerge, the potential of which was indicated by the success of the ‘No’ campaign in the 2008 Lisbon referendum campaign.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-460
Author(s):  
Alfred Evans ◽  
Eleanor Bindman
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Recent Developments

This article serves as an introduction to this special issue on recent developments in civil society organization and strategies in Russia. Despite the widespread assumption that the increased restrictions placed on NGO activity by the state in recent years have hampered their ability to operate, we argue that civil society in Russia continues to show signs of vitality. This is demonstrated by the fact that protests by ordinary Russians have grown and have often led to the formation of new groups and movements which have had some success in campaigning on specific issues. As the articles in this special issue highlight, one of the key tools affecting whether or not such movements can be successful in achieving their aims is that of framing. When organizations are able to frame the issue they are campaigning on in such a way as to resonate with ordinary people and avoid directly challenging the balance of power within Russia’s political system, they tend to enjoy more success than those groups which tend to take a more confrontational stance and thus face greater pushback and sanction from the authorities. This serves to highlight that NGOs and other civil society groups in Russia employ a range of different strategies and enjoy very different relationships with the authorities as a result.

Civil society and the state

2020 ◽  
pp. 309-324
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Lugano
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Organizational Relations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Settlement

This chapter provides an overview of the relationship between civil society and the Kenyan state. It unveils two contradictory trends: civil society’s opposition to, and co-optation by/cooperation with, the state. The chapter argues that these tendencies are contingent on organizational positionality within the prevailing political settlement, which constitutes state authority. The trends further affirm the centrality of civil society in Kenya’s political settlements, and associated reflections of key societal divisions along ethnic and political lines that in turn help to shape organizational relations with the state and broader society. Overall, the checkered relationship between state and civil society supports both popular perceptions of the latter’s contributions to democratization, as well as concerns regarding its transformative potential.

scholarly journals POLITICAL SYSTEM AS A CONDITION FOR DEVELOPMENT OF STATE AND LAW

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1803-1805
Author(s):  
Dimitar Spaseski
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political System ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
The Government

The state has a central place in the political system. Through its structure and positioning the country has the strength to be a unifier of society against its overall division of the various classes and layers, ethnic, cultural and other groups. The legitimacy of all these processes is given by laws that determine the trajectory of all processes and the conditions under which the processes take place. The state, by adopting the highest legal acts such as: the constitution and the laws, achieves one of its most important functions, which is the management of society. The state directs society to promote development, but also punishes and sanction infringements and mistakes. Depending on who exercises power in the state, i.e. whether it belongs to the people, to an individual or to a powerful group, the political system can be determined. The political system in itself includes the overall state relations, the relations in society and the guidelines for the conduct of the policy of the state. A state in which the government is elected by the people through direct elections certainly fulfills the basic requirement for the development of a stable civil society. The political system is one of the sub-systems of the entire civil society. The political system is specific in that all the activities and relations of which it is composed are directed to the state and its functions. The structure of the political system is composed of political and legal norms, political knowledge, political culture and political structure. These elements confirm the strong relationship between the state, the law and the political system. Developed democratic societies can talk about a developed political system that abounds with political culture and democracy. It is the aspiration of our life. Investing in democratic societies we invest in the future of our children. If we separate the subjects of the political system, we will determine that the people are the basis of the political system. All competencies intertwine around people. Political systems are largely dependent not only on the political processes that take place in them every day, but also on the economic performance and the economic power of the states. Economic stagnation or regression in some countries often threatens democracy and its values. We often forget that we cannot speak of the existence of a functioning and well-organized democratic political system without its strong economic support. In conditions of globalization, it is necessary to pay special attention to international positions as the main factor of the political system, for the simple reason that the functions of the state in this process are increasingly narrowing.

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