Publication

In this paper the author argues that Russia is at a turning point in which it can exit the political system of elite personalized power that has existed since the Tsarist era. She identifies what is necessary for change: public pressure on the regime, the split of the ruling elite, with its pragmatic part joining the opposition and the power structures’ reluctance to defend the old order. The author also argues that there are severe obstacles, such as the ruling elite's authoritarianism which encourages oppositional radicalism.