Discourses of ‘Krizis’: Economic Crisis in Russia and Regime Legitimacy

Abstract

By the time Vladimir Putin left presidential office in early 2008, the claim to power by the Russian authorities had been increasingly based on performance legitimacy. The financial and economic crisis that began to extend to Russia in late 2008 represented a major challenge for the Putin and Medvedev ‘tandem’. Several narratives which suggest different assessments of the causes of the crisis and its significance for Russia were presented in official discourse by sections of the political elite during the years 2008–10 in an attempt to avoid a possible deficit in the regime's legitimacy.

Notes

Peter Burnell, ‘Autocratic Opening to Democracy: Why Legitimacy Matters’, Third World Quarterly, Vol.27, No.4 (2006), pp.545–62.

‘Zhit' po-chelovecheski’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 9 Feb. 2008, pp.1–3.

Mikhail Sergeev, ‘Rossiya obgonit Britaniyu uzhe v iyune’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 12 May 2008, p.1.

‘Zhit' po-chelovecheski’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 9 Feb. 2008, pp.1–3.

‘Dostizheniya i neudachi Putina’ [Putin's achievements and failures], 26 March 2008, available at <http://www.levada.ru/press/2008032607.print.html>, accessed 3 May 2010.

Sobranie zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Collection of legislation of the Russian Federation], No.47, Item 5489, 17 Nov. 2008.

See, for example, Stephen White and Ian McAllister, ‘The Putin Phenomenon’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Vol.24, No.4 (2008), pp.604–28; Ian McAllister and Stephen White, ‘“It's the Economy, Comrade!” Parties and Voters in the 2007 Russian Duma Election’, Europe–Asia Studies, Vol.60, No.6 (2008), pp.931–57; and for a somewhat different view, Timothy J. Colton and Henry E. Hale, ‘The Putin Vote: Presidential Electorates in a Hybrid Regime’, Slavic Review, Vol.58, No.3 (2009), pp.473–503.

Burnell, ‘Autocratic Opening’, p.556.

Ibid.

Barbara Johnstone, Discourse Analysis (Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell, 2001); Gillian Brown and George Yule, Discourse Analysis (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983).

See, for example, Roy Allison, Margot Light and Stephen White, Putin's Russia and the Enlarged Europe (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006); Stephen White, ‘Elite Opinion and Foreign Policy in Post-Communist Russia’, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Vol.8, No.2 (2007), pp.147–67.

Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Milov, ‘Putin i krizis’ [Putin and the crisis], Nezavisimaya gazeta, 20 March 2009, p.4.

See ‘Davos – 2008: Kudrin rasskazal, kto mozhet stabilizirovat’ mirovuyu ekonomiku' [Davos 2008: Kudrin recounted who can stabilize the world economy], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 23 Jan. 2008.

‘World Bank in Russia’, Russian Economic Report, No.16, June 2008, p.3, available at <http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTRUSSIANFEDERATION/Resources/305499-1245838520910/6238985-1251964834794/RER_16_eng.pdf>, accessed 10 May 2010.

Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Report, Russia, Sep. 2008, pp.8, 16.

Interview on Italian television, 2 Sep. 2008, available at <http://www.un.int/russia/new/MainRoot/docs/warfare/statement020908en2.htm>, accessed 10 May 2010 (this part of the interview was not included in Izvestiya's report, 3 Sep. 2008, p.2).

Interview in Le Figaro, 13 Sep. 2008, available at <http://www.premier.gov.ru/eng/events/603.html>, accessed 26 June 2009.

‘Speech at the 7th International Investment Forum at Sochi’, 19 Sep. 2008, available at <http://www.premier.gov.ru/events/653.html>, accessed 1 July 2009.

Rossiiskaya gazeta, 6 Nov. 2008, pp.2–8 (pp.2–3).

‘World Bank in Russia’, Russian Economic Report, No.17, Nov. 2008, p.17, at <http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTRUSSIANFEDERATION/Resources/rer17_eng.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009.

Ibid., No.18, March 2009, various pages.

Ibid., No.19, June 2009, pp.12–13.

‘V.V. Putin provël zasedanie Pravitel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii’ [V.V. Putin holds sitting of government of Russian Federation], 1 Oct. 2008, available at <http://premier.gov.ru/events/news/2023>, accessed 19 April 2010.

Rossiiskaya gazeta, 6 Nov. 2008, p.2.

Vladimir Mau, ‘Antikrizisnoe upravlenie: Pyat’ prioritetov' [Anti-crisis government: five priorities], Vedomosti, 16 Oct. 2008.

Yurii Luzhkov, ‘Rossiiskie osobennosti mirovogo krizisa’ [Russian peculiarities of the world crisis], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 11 Feb. 2009, p.1.

Ibid.

Gennadii Zyuganov, Na perelome [At the breaking-point] (Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 2009), p.17.

Mikhail Delyagin, ‘Imperiya krizisa’ [Empire of crisis], Tribuna, 12 March 2009, p.2; also, for a more detailed account, see his books: Mikhail Delyagin, Rossiya dlya Rossiyan [Russia for Russians] (Moscow: Algoritm Eksmo, 2009); Mikhail Delyagin and Vyacheslav Sheyanov, Chem zakonchitsya ekonomicheskii krizis dlya Rossii? [How will the economic crisis end for Russia?] (Moscow: ID Kommersant, Eksmo, 2009).

Gennadii Zyuganov, ‘Pravda i lozh’ v zerkale krizisa' [Truth and lies in the mirror of the crisis], Pravda, 6 Feb. 2009, p.1.

‘Zayavlenie Prezidiuma Tsentral'nogo Komiteta KPRF’ [Statement of the CPRF Central Committee Presidium], Pravda, 18 Dec. 2008.

For example, Nikolai Starikov, Krizis. Kak eto delaetsya [The crisis: how it is developing] (Moscow: Piter, 2010).

For example, Yurii Luzhkov, ‘Bez gosudarstva – nikuda’ [Nowhere without the state], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 18 Sep. 2009, p.11.

Alexandr Dugin, ‘Krizis zolotogo tel'tsa’ [Crisis of the golden calf], Profil', 10 Nov. 2008, pp.18–26, p.21.

Ibid., p.19.

Ibid., pp.20–21.

Yuliya Latynina, ‘Ostat'sya v kruglyakakh’ [Remaining in the logs], Novaya gazeta, 22 Dec. 2008, p.7; the Russian title is a pun that cannot be rendered into English.

Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Milov, ‘Putin i krizis’ [Putin and the crisis], Nezavisimaya gazeta, 20 March 2009, p.4.

Gavriil Popov, ‘Komu platit’ za krizis' [Who should pay for the crisis?], Moskovskii komsomolets, 3 Feb. 2009, p.4.

See, for example, S. Aleksashenko, ‘Krizis–2008: pora stavit’ diagnoz' [Crisis 2008: time to give a diagnosis], Voprosy ekonomiki, 2008, No.11, pp.25–37; L. Grigor'ev and M. Salikhov, ‘Finansovyi krizis – 2008: vkhozhdenie v mirovuyu retsessiyu’ [Finance crisis 2008: entering a world recession], Voprosy ekonomiki, 2008, No.12, pp.27–45; Mikhail Khazin, ‘Razdvoenie VVP’ [Doubling GDP], Profil', 22 Dec. 2008, pp.14–15.

Mikhail Khazin, ‘Mifologiya krizisa’ [Mythology of the crisis], Profil', 16 March 2009, p.43.

Vladislav Inozemtsev, ‘V poiskakh otveta na krizis’ [In search of an answer to the crisis], Ekspert, 15 Dec. 2008, pp.66–70.

Sergei Afontsev, ‘Global'nyi krizis i regulirovanie mirovykh finansov’ [The global crisis and regulation of world finances], Mezhdunarodnye protsessy, Vol.7, No.1 (2009), pp.17–31.

Yevgenii Primakov, ‘Rossiya pered vyborom’ [Russia faces a choice], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 14 Jan. 2010, p.11.

See Valentina Feklyunina, ‘Battle for Perceptions: Projecting Russia in the West’, Europe–Asia Studies, Vol.60, No.4 (2008), pp.605–29.

Vladimir Putin, ‘Proshu na menya ne serdit'sya’ [I beg you not to be angry with me] (Putin's speech at the Security Conference in Munich, 10 Feb. 2007), Rossiiskaya gazeta, 12 Feb. 2007.

Sergei Lavrov, ‘Russia and the World in the 21st Century’, Russia in Global Affairs, Vol.6, No.3 (2008), pp.8–18 (p.9).

Dmitrii Medvedev, ‘Poslanie Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii Dmitriya Medvedeva Federal'nomu Sobraniyu Rossiiskoi Federatsii’ [Message of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitrii Medvedev to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 13 Nov. 2009, p.3.

Sergei Lavrov, ‘Krizis v otnosheniyakh s Zapadom: kakoi krizis?’ [Crisis in relations with the West: which crisis?], Itogi, 18 May 2009, pp.14–18 (p.14).

Ibid., p.15.

Ibid., p.14.

Ibid., p.15.

Ibid., p.14.

Sergei Karaganov, ‘The World Crisis – A Time for Creation’, Russia in Global Affairs, Vol.6, No.4 (2008), pp.8–16 (p.10).

Ibid., p.12.

Leonid Radzikhovskii, ‘Oblom oblomovshchiny’ [Fiasco of Oblomivism], Moskovskii komsomolets, 31 Oct. 2008, p.3.

Yurii Luzhkov, ‘Otvetstvennost’ vlasti i solidarnost' obshchestva' [Authorities' responsibility and social solidarity], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 12 Dec. 2008, p.1.

Konstantin Kosachev, ‘Mir na istoricheskoi razvilke’ [World at a historical fork in the road], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 15 April 2009, p.12.

Karaganov, ‘World Crisis’, p.15.

Mikhail Delyagin, ‘V zhernovakh krizisa’ [Between the millstones of the crisis], Zavtra, 8 Oct. 2008, p.2.

Vladislav Inozemtsev, ‘Na igle’ [On the point of a needle], Rossiya, 10 Sep. 2009, p.7.

Mikhail Delyagin, ‘Katalizator krizisa’ [Catalyst of the crisis], Tribuna, 30 Oct. 2008, p.2.

Vitalii Tret'yakov, ‘Metafizika krizisa’ [Metaphysics of the crisis], Izvestiya, 23 Oct. 2008, p.6.

Vitalii Tret'yakov, ‘Strategicheskie uroki krizisa’ [Strategic lessons of the crisis], Izvestiya, 6 Nov. 2008, p.6.

Vladislav Inozemtsev, ‘Ne nado paniki’ [No need to panic], Rossiya, 5 March 2009, p.1.

Vitalii Ivanov, ‘Gudbai, Amerika?’ [Goodbye, America?], Izvestiya, 13 Oct. 2008, p.6.

Primakov, ‘Rossiya pered vyborom’.

Dmitri Yur'ev, Krizis zapada – voskhod Rossii [The West's crisis is Russia's dawn] (Moscow: Yevropa, 2009).

Vyacheslav Nikonov, ‘Krizis i Rossiya’ [The crisis and Russia], Izvestiya, 12 Nov. 2008, p.6.

Fyodor Luk'yanov, ‘Two Crises on the Way to Reshaping the World’, Russia in Global Affairs, Vol.6, No.4 (2008), pp.5–6 (p.5).

Karaganov, ‘World Crisis’, p.15.

Mikhail Delyagin, ‘Vorota v rublevuyu zonu’ [The gate to the rouble zone], Tribuna, 13 Nov. 2008, p.2.

Kosachev, ‘Mir na istoricheskoi razvilke’.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, ‘Mir v 2009 godu’ [The world in 2009], Izvestiya, 31 Dec. 2009, p.8.

Afontsev, ‘Global'nyi krizis i regulirovanie mirovykh finansov’.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, ‘Global'nyi krizis: riski vzaimozavisimosti’ [The global crisis: risks of interdependence], Izvestiya, 1 Oct. 2008, p.6.

Karaganov, ‘World Crisis’, p.13.

Sergei Karaganov, ‘Rossiya i Zapad vo vremya krizisa’ [Russia and the West in a time of crisis], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 11 Feb. 2009, p.6.

Sergei Karaganov, ‘Proshedshii god i predstoyashchee desyatiletie’ [The last year and the coming decade], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 15 Jan. 2010, p.11.

Andrei Zagorskii, writing in I.M. Klyamkin (ed.), Rossiya i Zapad. Vneshnyaya politika Kremlya glazami liberalov [Russia and the West: Kremlin's foreign policy through the eyes of liberals] (Moscow: Fond ‘Liberal'naya missiya’, 2009), p.18.

Sobranie zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii, No.47, Item 5489, 17 Nov. 2008.

Dmitrii Medvedev, ‘Pryamoi adres: [email protected] [Go, Russia!]’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 11 Sep. 2009, p.1.

Dmitrii Medvedev, ‘Poslanie Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, p.3.

Medvedev, ‘Pryamoi adres’, p.1.

Igor' Yurgens, ‘Slabost’ sily' [The weakness of strength], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 10 Sept. 2009, p.1.

Mau, ‘Antikrizisnoe upravlenie’.

Mikhail Gorbachev, Sergei Aleksashenko, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Yevgenii Gontmakher, Aleksandr Lebedev, Andrei Cherepanov, Viktor Sheinis, Vladislav Inozemtsev and Yana Yakovleva, ‘Obshchestvennaya antikrizisnaya initsiativa’ [Social anti-crisis initiative], Vremya novostei, 22 Jan. 2010, p.4.

Kirill Rogov, ‘Svoi put’: Modernizatsiya i konkurentsiya' [One's own way: modernization and competition], Vedomosti, 7 April 2010.

Nemtsov and Milov, ‘Putin i krizis’.

INSINOR, Rossiya XXI veka: Obraz zhelaemogo zavtra [Russia in the XXI century: the shape of a desired tomorrow] (Moscow: Ekon-Inform, 2010), p.20.

Vladislav Surkov, writing in Izvestiya, 4 March 2009, p.3.

Primakov, ‘Rossiya pered vyborom’.

Vladislav Inozemtsev, ‘Anti-Yurgens’ [Anti-Yurgens], Moskovskii komsomolets, 9 Feb. 2010, p.4.

Luzhkov, ‘Rossiiskie osobennosti mirovogo krizisa’.

See Vyacheslav Nikonov, ‘Mir v 2009 godu’ [The world in 2009], Izvestiya, 31 Dec. 2009, p.8; Kosachev, ‘Mir na istoricheskoi razvilke’.

Radzikhovskii, ‘Oblom oblomovshchiny’.

Yurgens, ‘Slabost’ sily', p.1.

Alexander Dugin, ‘Etot voskhititel'nyi 2008-i!’ [This delicious year 2008!], Profil', 19 Jan. 2009, pp.18–22.

‘Zayavlenie Prezidiuma Tsentral'nogo Komiteta KPRF’.

Dugin, ‘Krizis zolotogo tel'tsa’, p.24.

Ibid., p.26.

Mikhail Margelov, ‘Na “skuchnyi” lad’ [In a ‘boring’ style], Rossiiskaya gazeta, 3 Feb. 2010, p.3.

Karaganov, ‘Rossiya i Zapad vo vremya krizisa’.

Zimin, writing in Klyamkin (ed.), Rossiya i Zapad, p.41.

Nikonov, ‘Mir v 2009 godu’, p.8.

Abel Aganbegyan, Krizis: Beda i shans dlya Rossii [The crisis: trouble and opportunity for Russia] (Moscow: AST, Astrel', 2009), p.284.

Vladislav Inozemtsev, ‘Modernizatsya.ru: Gde my nakhodimsya’ [Modernisation.ru: where we are], Vedomosti, 11 Jan. 2010.

Vladislav Inozemtsev, ‘O tsennostyakh i normakh’ [On values and norms], Nezavisimaya gazeta, 5 March 2010, p.3.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Valentina Feklyunina

Valentina Feklyunina is a lecturer in Politics in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University. Her most recent publications include ‘Image and Reality: Russia's Relations with the West’ (in R.E. Kanet and M. R. Freire, eds, Russia and European Security, 2011) and ‘Russia's Authoritarian Elections: The View from Below’ (co-authored with Stephen White, in Europe–Asia Studies, 2011).

Stephen White

Stephen White is James Bryce Professor of Politics at the University of Glasgow and also holds visiting appointments at the Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center and the Institute of Applied Politics in Moscow. His recent publications include Understanding Russian Politics (2011).