Are the libs right when they call Russia an authoritarian dictatorship? I know there have been political assassinations and other such things, but that’s not special to Russia. Are the libs just overreacting or am i overcorrecting myself?
So the US is not already neoliberal, socially reactionary and borderline fascist?
I thought it was the other way around. The US is the future of Russia, assuming no major changes in the global order.
Liberal political scientists would call it an illiberal or managed democracy - substantially oligarchic or authoritarian, but maintaining the forms of democracy. The democratic forms legitimate the government but don’t significantly affect policy.
I think that’s accurate, but they tend to ignore how accurately the same framework describes the US as well.
Russia is an interesting case in the “democracy vs authoritarian” liberal doxa. The US more or less created the constitution of the Russian federation, so in terms of how the system works, liberals were supposed to say that Russia is democratic. However, since Putin made his anti-west turn, they just have to call him authoritarian, because liberals can’t antagonise a country if it is “democratic”.
But yeah in Marxist terms, it’s a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie that plays tougher than imperial core ones
No, but it’s not uniquely dictatorial either. It’s a very similar setup to the US, where your vote doesn’t really mean anything because a small circle of the rich elite decide everything that happens. If anything, it seems like Russians care more about violence against Putin’s political enemies because it is at a talking point in Russian politics. Americans watch anyone who could be a threat to the American elite get imprisoned and killed and forced into poverty or hiding and don’t give a shit
It is as democratic as any other liberal democracy, they are just more blatant with their corruption
