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Problems of Post-Communism Volume 70, 2023 - Issue 3
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Research Article

Mimicking the Mad Printer: Legislating Illiberalism in Post-Soviet Eurasia

Julian G. WallerDepartment of Political Science, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USACorrespondence[email protected]
ORCID Iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0457-9905
ORCID Icon
Pages 225-240 | Published online: 07 Sep 2021
 
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ABSTRACT

Illiberal policy innovation has grown in post-Soviet Eurasia over the 2010s, especially regarding controversial moral and cultural issues. These have often been developed by illiberal entrepreneur states and then taken up elsewhere. This article reviews the case of the Russian “homosexual propaganda” law, situating the particular domestic context for its legislative development and then turning to the partial diffusion of “copycat” versions debated in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia. Although Russian illiberal innovation can be understood through domestic drivers of policy development, attempts to pass illiberal laws elsewhere are better explained by the interaction of domestic political incentives and international factors.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks participants of the 2016 Graduate Student Mid-Atlantic Conference for Eurasian Studies, the 2017 Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies conference, the 2018 Conference on Central Asia at the University of Hamburg, and two anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments and feedback.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See Ben Noble (Citation2020) for an excellent overview of Russia’s authoritarian parliament of the era.

2. I understand “copycat” policy diffusion as a form of policy transfer/learning, following Hall and Ambrosio (Citation2017, 145–48) rather than “isomorphism,” although the mimetic nature of the alignment of legal text with diffusion practices is notable in these cases. It could alternatively be understood as a form of coercive, institutional isomorphic change under conditions of symbolic uncertainty, following DiMaggio and Powell (Citation1983).

8. See Weiss and Bosia (Citation2013) for a discussion of the global prevalence of anti-LGBT views. See also research from the Martin Prosperity Group and the 2012 Gallup World Poll, http://www.citylab.com/politics/2014/02/global-map-homophobia/8309/ as well as Pew Research in 2013, http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/.

9. Some countries have long resisted efforts to decriminalize sodomy, homosexuality, blasphemy, and independent civil society organization (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkmenistan).

10. Zimbabwe (anti-NGO), Nigeria (anti-LGBT), Uganda (anti-LGBT, anti-NGO), Kenya (anti-NGO, pro-religious conservatism), and Zambia (anti-NGO) among others.

11. The Russian Orthodox Church, ROC, and the church are used interchangeably here.

13. In 2015, a poll showed 80 percent opposing gay marriage and 41 percent supporting outright repression to “exterminate the phenomenon.” Also see The Moscow Times: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/poll-shows-russian-attitudes-to-gay-people-are-worse-than-decade-ago/525429.html.

14. See Alena Ledeneva and Richard Sakwa, respectively, for the division between the security apparatus (“siloviki”) and liberal technocrats (“tsiviliki”) that divided the Russian government during the Medvedev presidency (Ledeneva Citation2013; Sakwa Citation2010).

16. Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 29 декабря 2010 г. N 436-ФЗ http://rg.ru/2010/12/31/deti-inform-dok.html.

17. Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 21 июля 2011 г. N 252-ФЗ http://rg.ru/2011/07/26/deti-dok.html.

18. Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 30 июня 2013 г. № 135-ФЗ http://rg.ru/2013/06/30/deti-site-dok.html.

19. See other ROC successes at the regional level: banning Valentine’s Day in Belgorod Oblast with the support of the local church (The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8310217/Russian-city-cancels-Valentines-Day.html); banning Halloween in Krasnoyarsk and Arkhangelsk Oblasts (Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/27125702-71ec-11e5-ad6d-f4ed76f0900a.html), etc. For a comprehensive account of the federal-level influence of the church, see (Papkova Citation2011; Richters Citation2012). See (Blitt Citation2010, Citation2008) for an assessment of legal changes to benefit the church. See (Blitt Citation2011) for an assessment of the growing foreign policy reach of the church. The church has an increasing presence as a federal budget-item (see Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/13/putin-russia-little-separation-church-state/?page=all). The church has become increasingly involved in televised promotion of its viewpoints (Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/27125702-71ec-11e5-ad6d-f4ed76f0900a.html; Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/12/power-religion-with-putin-help-russian-church-grows-as-political-force.html); as a contact point for rebels in the Donbas (Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-church-insight-idUSKCN0HV0MH20141006); and as a symbolic fixture in state institutions such as the military, hospitals, and schools (Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0104/Czarist-echo-Russian-Orthodox-Church-drives-to-restore-its-political-clout).

20. Проект Федерального закона «О внесении дополнений в Уголовный Кодекс Российской Федерации, направленных на введение ответственности за пропаганду гомосексуализма». http://www.webcitation.org/6EAdc876q.

21. The first bill was rejected outright by the government, citing nonconformity with legal norms, and died after being tabled for eight months. The second attempt was rejected by the deputy speaker of the Duma and not placed into legislative consideration, noting that the bill violated the constitution. The third attempt was also rejected by the deputy prime minister for constitutional reasons as well as for its violation of the criminal code, although the bill survived legislatively until a first reading in 2009. See “Convenient Targets: The Anti-‘Propaganda’ Law and the Threat to LGBT Rights in Russia” Citation2013, 8–9.

22. A poll contemporaneous to negotiations noted that 40 percent of respondents thought homosexuals should not have the same rights as others, with 66 percent of men and 60 percent of women reporting a general negative opinion of LGBT individuals; 43 percent said homosexuality was “debauchery, a bad habit” and another 32 percent that it was “a disorder, a result of mental trauma.” RBTH: http://rbth.com/multimedia/infographics/2013/02/12/are_russians_homophobic_22779. Mizulina quoted such polls repeatedly as justification for passage. NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=193194578.

26. Mizulina’s efforts to moderate the excesses of the draft bill were communicated to the author by a Duma MP during an interview in fall 2015.

37. Human Rights Campaign. “Exposed: The World Congress of Families,” Human Rights Campaign Foundation Report, August 2014, pp. 1–20. http://hrc-assets.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com//files/assets/resources/ExposedTheWorldCongressOfFamilies.pdf.

44. http://rus.azattyk.org/archive/ky_News_in_Russian_ru/20150522/4795/4795.html?id=27030670; проект Закона Кыргызской Республики «О внесении дополнений и изменений в некоторые законодательные акты Кыргызской Республики» http://www.kenesh.kg/RU/Articles/17122-Na_obshhestvennoe_obsuzhdenie_6_sentyabrya_2013_goda_vynositsya_proekt_Zakona_Kyrgyzskoj_Respubliki_vnesenii_dopolnenij_i_izmenenij_v_nekotorye_zakonodatelnye_akty_Kyrgyzskoj_Respubliki.aspx.

46. “Кыргыз Республикасынын айрым мыйзам актыларына толуктоолорду киргизүү жөнүндө (КР Кылмыш-жаза кодексине, КР Администрациялык жоопкерчилик жөнүндө Кодексине, ‘Тынч чогулуштар жөнүндө’, ‘Массалык маалымат каражаттары жөнүндө’ КР Мыйзамдарына,”: http://kenesh.kg/lawprojects/lps.aspx?view=projectinfo&id=122027.

54. Kyrgyz Indigo, “Kyrgyzstan: Human Rights Violations of LGBT,” Joint submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review, February 2016, https://ilga.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Shadow-report-15.pdf.

58. Observatory of Economic Complexity: http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/kaz/.

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