№ 5 - 1999
Pastukhov V.B.
The Power and Society in the Field of Elections, or Zero-Sum Games

A long time is yet to pass before elections become an institution of democratic change of power in Russia, the author of the article, D.Sc.(Politics), maintains. Political power in the country is self-sufficient and is able to reproduce itself without civil society’s participation. The power’s self-sufficience results from the lack of economic and legal base of federalism, from the lack of actual division of powers, and from legal nihilism. The freedom in Russia, and democratic freedom, have little in common, just as glasnost and openness have little in common. Russian society is debarred from participation in actions of Russian power, it is helpless, for it lacks corporative consciousness and has no mechanism at its disposal, of realising corporative interests, and therefore depends entirely on the state. The «gubernization» of Russia is a tentative to create a new power-generating nucleus. The regions are today almost autonomous authoritarian enclaves. The «gubernization is the political form of existence of regional consciousness. Governors’ coalitions are growing in Russia into the most efficient political force. The author also describes the «nuances» of the functioning of Russian capital and of Russian mass-media. The present conflict of the power and society in Russia is the final phase of development of the inner conflict within the Russian power itself. Whatever the result of the parliamentary and of the presidential elections, it will be the choice of the power, not of society. These elections will not become a milestone in Russia’s history, the author holds.