This is how today he can remain at the head of Russia surrounded by his oligarchs with the consent of the Russian people.If they’re expecting sympathy from the man who caused all this upheaval, experts say, they’d do better getting a dog. The hardest part of the job for Russia began then, with Vladimir Putin who was going to reinforce this system of corruption to strengthen his power and his hold on Russia. In August 1999, Yeltsin presented this successor: a young ex-KGB agent from Saint Petersburg named Vladimir Putin. In 1999, as Boris Yeltsin's presidency began to weaken, the elites put pressure on him: if Yeltsin appointed their chosen successor, they would ensure that he and his family would not be prosecuted for embezzlement of public funds. In this vacuum, parallel structures of corruption flourished, driving honest politicians out of government and honest businesses out of the market.īy the late 1990s, official corruption flourished at all levels of the Russian government. Less power to the institutions and as few restrictions as possible. Since the late 1990s, this corruption has become institutionalized at all levels of the Russian governmentīut in Russia, the government has responded to the invitation of Western advisors to remove the state from the economy as much as possible to allow free markets to flourish. For example, after the fall of the USSR, the new democratically elected parliament there strengthened the judicial system and introduced new controls on the executive. You need banks that can extend credit, you need a strong legal system that protects property. For capitalism to have functioning markets, you also need institutions. This would not have been so bad if democratization had also meant control of the executive, with an independent judiciary to investigate and prosecute crimes. If people can get together and talk more easily, they can plan corrupt activities. Thus, the freedoms of speech and association could not only be used for good things but could also be used for illegal activities. But after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the sudden explosion of freedom of expression and freedom of association in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union brought new opportunities, not only for political and economic development but also for crime and corruption. There was corruption in the Soviet Union. Or rather, in the fact that there was not enough democratization. The answer, perhaps counter-intuitively, lies in democratization. When this type of networked corrupt behavior becomes widespread, it creates a parallel system of rewards and punishments. There are corruptors and corrupted, resource diverters and resource dealers, people who look the other way, and others who want a piece of the pie. But while this is not entirely untrue, it misses the most important point, which is that corruption is a group activity. We tend to think of corruption as a lack of morality when a greedy person decides to make a personal profit by directing public resources to his or her interests. The second applies specifically to Russia: it became trapped in this trap as a result of its imperfect and ultimately incomplete transition to democracy in the 1990s. The first applies to systemic corruption wherever it occurs: it is not primarily a problem of individual immorality, but a collective trap. But two simple ideas can help make sense of the big picture. Mapping the details of this corruption is almost impossible. And this is what could one day bring about his downfall, just as it did for his predecessor and political godfather Boris Yeltsin. It is impossible to understand Putin's regime without understanding the corruption he has created, nurtured, shaped, and constrained. To understand why Putin is strengthened after three months of conflict, one must understand the basis of his regime. Many are even wondering why the Russian people's support for Putin has continued to grow since the beginning of the conflict. After almost three months of war without major success for the Russian army, many people in the West are wondering how the Russian people can continue to blindly support Vladimir Putin. Ordered by Vladimir Putin, Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.
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