RUSSIA’S ‘MANAGED DEMOCRACY’ IN 2000S: HOW INFORMAL POLITICS CONTRIBUTED?

Russian Politics since 1990 witnessed an essential change which was expected to be a democratic transition. However, Putin’s presidency beginning with 2000 represented a turning mainly depending on the power vertical. This study aims at clarifying functions of informal politics in the construction and operation of Russia’s Managed Democracy since 2000. Through identifying practical responses to theoretical considerations I tried to put forward how the informal networks that traced back to Soviet period and Yeltsin’s presidency shaped political life of today’s Russia. Since it is hard to identify informal political networks, the findings of this study could only reach those evidence that were publicly declared or accepted by those in power. 

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