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Main page > Products > Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts - The weekly bulletin > Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (46) 734 Politics in Russia: power, lobby, conflicts. Issue No (46) 734November 3 - 9, 2008 Main tendencies of political weekDmitry Medvedev’s Address to the Federal Assembly became the priority topic last week. Despite previously voiced suppositions, the Address contained a sizeable range of domestic policy issues. The document’s peculiarity, compared to previous addresses, was a noticeable appeal to moral values that the president suggested as the basis of informal pact between the elites and the public. The analysis of the values mentioned and their order in the president’s speech provide for the supposition that in the light of the Address the president acts as advocate of a socially oriented and paternalist system with elements of new liberalism that has little in common with dogmas of the Anglo-Saxon origin. In addition to ideological component, the document contains a substantial number of concrete instructions to modernize the political system. The statement regarding prolongation of the president’s term in office to six years and of the State Duma’s to five years came as almost complete surprise. On the whole, this is aimed at stabilizing Russia’s political system and avoiding holding the presidential and parliamentary elections close to each other, which should decrease the agitation pressure on voters. These initiatives resulted in a new wave of rumors that the president has allegedly “worked off his contract with Vladimir Putin” and is not bound by anything; however, such speculations are likely to be the desire of thaw apologists to put a brave face on a sorry business. Another important range of issues in the Address is devoted to reforms of the party system. On the whole, they are aimed at intensifying the party life by encouraging the so-called small parties. In particular, the president’s proposal to allocate one or two seats to political parties that collect 5% and 7% of the vote can be considered an attempt to encourage emerging parties that are not yet able to satisfy all necessary conditions to qualify to the State Duma. Growing economic problems seem to have promoted consolidation of the elites and resulted in postponing some structural reforms for an indefinite period. In particular, Investigation Committee head Alexander Bastrykin’s statement that there has not been a political decision made regarding the creation of the single investigation body can be considered as evident sign of the refusal to carry out this reform. Major events November 3 - November 9, 2008
Volume: 15 pages If you are interested to obtain please contact » Elena Kim Other issues: |
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