How authoritarian is Russia? Analysis of the form of rule from Lenin until Putin

Abstract or Introduction

Russia has always been a country shaped by authoritarian to totalitarian power structures during its history. Already under the rule of Tsar Nicholas II. the population wanted to break away from their autocratic forms of rule. An improvement in prosperity for the benefit of the population was hoped with the October Revolution in 1917. But the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks under the leadership of Lenin did not achieve the equality of the population hoped for by the communist ideology. The degree of autocracy and repression against the own citizenship especially under Stalin has intensified and turned into totalitarianism. After the death of the dictator Stalin it was slowly possible to break away from the strongly totalitarian structures, but not to become a liberal democracy until now.

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 initial developments towards democratization under Gorbachev and Yeltsin who was the first free elected president has happened. But since the rule of Putin and Medvedev since 2000 a development towards authoritarian structures has been recognizable. These structures have strengthened over the years as Putin has secured his rule as a de facto sole autocrat through constitutional reforms. In the following essay applying the theories of Juan Linz of authoritarianism and totalitarianism and the theory of defective democracy from Wolfgang Merkel first will be defined which characteristics make up an authoritarian regime and how they distinguish themselves from totalitarianism. This analysis will then be carried out primarily about the historical developments of Russia and their current status in 2022. Evaluations of the Country Report 2022 from the portal Freedom House will finally present the current degree of freedom and democracy in Russia.