Russia{u2019}s New Authoritarianism: Putin and the Politics of Order

In this book, David Lewis offers an original interpretation of the Russian political system that developed under Vladimir Putin as a new form of authoritarianism. Lewis argues that the Putinist worldview challenged liberal beliefs about concepts such as sovereignty, the state, and democracy, and instead promoted a set of illiberal norms and ideas that contributed to a global backlash against liberal politics. The book uses the political thought of Carl Schmitt, the Nazi jurist and anti-liberal political theorist, to explore political developments in Russia in the first two decades of the 21st century. Case-studies examine how ideas of sovereign decision-making and exceptionality undermined the rule of law in Russia, producing a system of politicised, selective justice. A striving for national unity degenerated into a search for external and internal enemies. Russia’s democratic institutions were gradually hollowed out as Russia developed a form of “illiberal democracy”. The second part of the book uses Schmitt’s theories of international relations to study Russian foreign policy, including a detailed case-study of the annexation of Crimea, a new interpretation of Russia’s search for a sphere of influence in the former Soviet space, and a study of messianic thinking in Russian policy in the Middle East. The book is a detailed study of contemporary Russian politics, but also draws parallels between developments in Russia and the global growth of right-wing populism and authoritarianism. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 2 Dedication......Page 3 Title - Full......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 15 Note on Transliteration and Translation......Page 16 Understanding Russian Authoritarianism......Page 18 Order, Smuta and the Russian State......Page 23 Russia as Weimar......Page 29 Carl Schmitt and Authoritarian Order......Page 34 TWO / Carl Schmitt and Russian Conservatism......Page 41 Carl Schmitt in Moscow......Page 46 Normalising Schmitt......Page 62 The Centrality of Sovereignty......Page 66 Sovereignty in International Affairs......Page 69 Domestic Sovereignty: Deciding on the Exception......Page 78 The Dual State......Page 94 Putinism and Democracy......Page 98 The Decline of Parliamentarianism......Page 103 Constructing a Majority......Page 105 FIVE / Defining the Enemy......Page 117 Russia and Its Enemies......Page 119 The End of Consensus......Page 131 SIX / Dualism, Exceptionality and the Rule of Law......Page 134 Law in Russia......Page 136 Conceptualising Dualism......Page 140 Politicised Justice......Page 143 Mechanisms of Exception......Page 147 The Exception Becomes the Norm......Page 154 SEVEN / The Crimean Exception......Page 156 Crimea: The Sovereign Decision......Page 157 Legality as Imperialism......Page 161 Order and Orientation......Page 168 A World of Great Spaces......Page 178 Russia’s Spatial Crisis......Page 182 The New Schmittians......Page 207 NINE / Apocalypse Delayed: Katechontic Thinking in Late Putinist Russia......Page 210 Russian Messianism......Page 214 Russia as Contemporary Katechon......Page 217 Katechontic Thinking and the Syrian Intervention......Page 223 CONCLUSION......Page 232 Bibliography......Page 240 Index......Page 285 Studies the transformation of Russian domestic politics and foreign policy under Vladimir Putin • Asks what kind of political system ‘Putinism’ denotes • Engages with the scholarly and policy debate on the growth of illiberal politics and authoritarianism globally in the post-Soviet space and in countries as diverse as Hungary, Egypt, Turkey and the Philippines • Uses contemporary case studies – including Russia’s legal system, the annexation of Crimea and Russian policy in Syria – to critically examine Russia’s political ideology. Why did Russia’s post-Soviet political system developed into a new form of authoritarianism? And how did its foreign policy came to pose such a profound challenge to the West? David G. Lewis goes beyond current polemical debates to address these questions. Lewis investigates the Russian understanding of key concepts such as sovereignty, democracy and political community. He analyses the Russian political system as a novel form of authoritarian political order, unpacking the ideological paradigm that underpins it. He reveals that Russia's new order is characterised by the consolidation of political and economic power around a sovereign leader, together with a willingness to take political decisions outside the law both at home and in international affairs.

Studies the transformation of Russian domestic politics and foreign policy under Vladimir PutinAsks what kind of political system 'Putinism' denotesEngages with the scholarly and policy debate on the growth of illiberal politics and authoritarianism globally in the post-Soviet space and in countries as diverse as Hungary, Egypt, Turkey and the PhilippinesUses contemporary case studies – including Russia's legal system, the annexation of Crimea and Russian policy in Syria – to critically examine Russia's political ideologyWhy did Russia's post-Soviet political system developed into a new form of authoritarianism? And how did its foreign policy came to pose such a profound challenge to the West? David G. Lewis goes beyond current polemical debates to address these questions.Lewis investigates the Russian understanding of key concepts such as sovereignty, democracy and political community. He analyses the Russian political system as a novel form of authoritarian political order, unpacking the ideological paradigm that underpins it. He reveals that Russia's new order is characterised by the consolidation of political and economic power around a sovereign leader, together with a willingness to take political decisions outside the law both at home and in international affairs.

La 4ème de couv. indique : "An innovative study of the transformation of Russian domestic politics and foreign policy under Vladimir Putin. This book goes beyond current polemical debates to explain why Russia's post-Soviet political system developed into a new for of authoritarianism and how its foreign policy come to pose such a profound challenge to the West. The author analyses the Russian political system as a novel form of authoritarian political order, characterised by the consolidation of political and economic power around a sovereign leader and a willingness to take political decisions outside the law both at home and in international affairs. The book explores this political system by unpacking the ideological paradigm that underpinsit, investigating the Russian understanding of key concepts such as sovereignty, democracy and political community. Through a series of cases studies - including Russia's legal system, the annexation of Crimea, and Russian policy in Suria - the author explains why these ideas matter in Russian domestic and foreign policy." David G. Lewis explores Russia's political system under Putin by unpacking the ideological paradigm that underpins it. He investigates the Russian understanding of key concepts such as sovereignty, democracy and political community. Through the dissection of a series of case studies – including Russia’s legal system, the annexation of Crimea, and Russian policy in Syria – Lewis explains why these ideas matter in Russian domestic and foreign policy. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/45793 David G. Lewis explores the transformation of Russian domestic politics and foreign policy under Vladimir Putin. Using contemporary case studies – including Russia's legal system, the annexation of Crimea and Russian policy in Syria – he critically examines Russia's new authoritarian political ideology.