wkmac
Well-Known Member
I was reading at the American Enterprise Institute website when I found an interesting article by Leon Aron entitled, "What Russia's War Reveals". Mr. Aron discusses many aspects of the current situation in Russia but his comments that really caught my attention had to do with what Aron called "Putinism" and in the 5 key ways this is manifested. For your reading pleasure here are the 5 keys to Putinism.
https://web.archive.org/web/2009030...cations/pubID.28461,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
As I read the 5 keys this same ole authoritarianism that has come down through history seem to me to suggest these 5 steps.
1) In gov't with several institutions holding delegated powers, you manage to consolidate those powers under a single institution or in Putin's case, one lone man and of course Putin will have with him his long close associates who have helped him over the years.
2) Convincing the people of having suffered some loss or inflicted some wrong that could lead to loss of international standing. Also the dominate theme of threats or loss of national interests.
3) The collective belief that Russia is surrounded by enemies on many fronts who seek to harm them. Whether those threats are truly real or not, the people must believe the threat. Internal scapegoats are also very important.
4) We're talking about an ole KGB man so the need to monitor mail, email, phone and other means of communication is necessary. Also encouraging people to act as gov't spies on one another is of vital importance. Anyone not conforming to set societial policy standards are deemed some type of state enemy and therefore further isolated and marginalized. This gives conforming citizens easy targets and Putin can play the game for all it's worth.
5) There must always be an internal threat for the purpose of scapegoating. This allows those that loyally follow gov't authoritarianism to have a feeling of moral high ground and patriotic duty. Anyone who speaks out or even so much as utter a justified question of policy is labeled in the negative in order to maintain compliance and bolster the self importance of the loyal authoritarian followers. Of course, those who find themselves in political opposition or attached to a political party outside the controlling leadership are easy targets to the "fifth column traitors" ideal. This also gives a target for the mindless many who blindly follow Putinism and by being able to call such persons disloyal or traitors give them a sense of greater power and a part of a greater cause than themselves.
Aron IMO did a very good job in laying out the dangers of this man Putin and his mechanism for seizing power and creating a re-constituted Russian Authoritarian state built on the premise of continuing war and imperial drive. It's not often I agree with something I find at the Neo-Conservative AEI but clearly Aron has laid out a picture of what a political maniac would look like and Putin fits the bill perfectly.
JMO
https://web.archive.org/web/2009030...cations/pubID.28461,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
As I read the 5 keys this same ole authoritarianism that has come down through history seem to me to suggest these 5 steps.
1) In gov't with several institutions holding delegated powers, you manage to consolidate those powers under a single institution or in Putin's case, one lone man and of course Putin will have with him his long close associates who have helped him over the years.
2) Convincing the people of having suffered some loss or inflicted some wrong that could lead to loss of international standing. Also the dominate theme of threats or loss of national interests.
3) The collective belief that Russia is surrounded by enemies on many fronts who seek to harm them. Whether those threats are truly real or not, the people must believe the threat. Internal scapegoats are also very important.
4) We're talking about an ole KGB man so the need to monitor mail, email, phone and other means of communication is necessary. Also encouraging people to act as gov't spies on one another is of vital importance. Anyone not conforming to set societial policy standards are deemed some type of state enemy and therefore further isolated and marginalized. This gives conforming citizens easy targets and Putin can play the game for all it's worth.
5) There must always be an internal threat for the purpose of scapegoating. This allows those that loyally follow gov't authoritarianism to have a feeling of moral high ground and patriotic duty. Anyone who speaks out or even so much as utter a justified question of policy is labeled in the negative in order to maintain compliance and bolster the self importance of the loyal authoritarian followers. Of course, those who find themselves in political opposition or attached to a political party outside the controlling leadership are easy targets to the "fifth column traitors" ideal. This also gives a target for the mindless many who blindly follow Putinism and by being able to call such persons disloyal or traitors give them a sense of greater power and a part of a greater cause than themselves.
Aron IMO did a very good job in laying out the dangers of this man Putin and his mechanism for seizing power and creating a re-constituted Russian Authoritarian state built on the premise of continuing war and imperial drive. It's not often I agree with something I find at the Neo-Conservative AEI but clearly Aron has laid out a picture of what a political maniac would look like and Putin fits the bill perfectly.
JMO
