The Shadow Life: A Sociological Self-Portrait of Post-Soviet Society

Abstract

The new Russian president [Vladimir Putin] went into the election with the slogan "The dictatorship of law." But what can such a slogan mean in a situation of systemic lawlessness, where all basic economic and administrative activities—both in business and in the state bureaucracy—take place in an environment of pervasive corruption and shady economic relations? The shadow alliance between business people and officials is immune to repressive force so long as the latter have no broad-based social support and foundation. And here, with this key point, is where not everything is as clear as may seem at first glance.