Journal Article

Political Opposition in Russia: A Troubled Transformation

Gel'man, Vladimir

2015

Overview

In the mid-2000s, the decline of opposition politics in Russia was so sharp and undisputed that the title of an article I wrote at the time, ‘Political Opposition in Russia: A Dying Species?’ (Gel'man 2005) met with little objection. At that time, the impact of the opposition was peripheral at best. The ‘party of power’, United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya—UR), dominated both nationwide (Remington 2008) and sub-national (Ross 2011) legislatures, and the few representatives of the opposition exerted almost no influence on decision making. Political opposition in Russia was driven into very narrow ‘niches’ (Greene 2007), if not into ghettos, and spectators were rather gloomy about the chances of its rebirth. Ten years later, Russia's political landscape looks rather different. Protest meetings in Moscow and other cities in 2011–2012 brought together hundreds of thousands of participants under political slogans, and the Russian opposition was able to multiply its ranks, to change its leadership, to reach a ‘negative consensus’ vis-à-vis the status quo political regime, and to come to the front stage of Russian politics. What were the causes of the rebirth of the political opposition in Russia in the 2010s, and what are the factors that continue to drive this process?

• Publisher: Routledge,Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subject: Activism / Activists / Authoritarianism / Consensus / Decision making / Demonstrations & protests / Elections / Environmental protection / Ghettos / Leadership / Legislatures / Political activism / Political culture / Political leaders / Political opposition / Political parties / Political protest / Political regimes / Politics / Post-communist societies / Power / Protest movements / Recent political history / Russian Federation / Russians / Slogans / Social movements / Spectators / State-society relations / Supporters / Tactics / Transformation