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"Sovereign democracy" (russian: суверенная демократия, transl. ''suverennaya demokratiya'') is a term describing modern
Russian politics The politics of Russia take place in the framework of the federation, federal semi-presidential system, semi-presidential republic of Russia. According to the Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is head of state, and of a multi-par ...
first used by
Vladislav Surkov Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov (russian: Владислав Юрьевич Сурков; born 21 September 1962 or 1964) is a Russian politician and businessman. He was First Deputy Chief of the Russian Presidential Administration from 1999 to 201 ...
on 22 February 2006 in a speech before a gathering of the Russian political party
United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...
. According to Surkov, sovereign democracy is:
A society's political life where the political powers, their authorities and decisions are decided and controlled by a diverse Russian nation for the purpose of reaching material welfare, freedom and fairness by all citizens, social groups and nationalities, by the people that formed it.
This term was used thereafter by political figures such as
Sergei Ivanov Sergei Borisovich Ivanov ( rus, Сергей Борисович Иванов, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej bɐˈrʲisəvʲɪtɕ ɪvɐˈnof; born 31 January 1953) is a Russian senior official and politician who has served as the Special Representative of ...
,
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
,
Boris Gryzlov Boris Vyacheslavovich Gryzlov (also spelled Grizlov; russian: Борис Вячеславович Грызлов, ; born December 15, 1950), is a Russian politician. He was Interior Minister from 2001 to 2003 and Speaker of the State Duma (the lo ...
and
Vasily Yakemenko Vasily Grigoryevich Yakemenko (russian: Василий Григорьевич Якеменко, born 1971 in Lyubertsy, Moscow Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Russian politician, creator and leader of several pro-government youth groups. Career From 1 ...
. It is the official ideology of the Russian youth movement NASHI, created in support of Vladimir Putin. Sovereign Democracy in Russia was realised in the form of a
dominant-party system A dominant-party system, or one-party dominant system, is a political occurrence in which a single political party continuously dominates election results over running opposition groups or parties. Any ruling party staying in power for more th ...
which was put into place in 2007 when as a result of the Russian legislative election of 2007 the political party
United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...
, headed by president
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
, without forming a government, formally became the leading and guiding force in Russian society. Concrete priorities and orientations of Sovereign Democracy were conceptualized in Prime Minister Putin's
Plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...
.


Criticism

According to ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', the term ''sovereign democracy'' conveys that "Russia's regime is democratic and, second, that this claim must be accepted without demanding any proof, period. Any attempt at verification will be regarded as unfriendly and as meddling in Russia's domestic affairs." Yuri Semyonov wrote in 2008:
The concept of sovereignty relates to government as a whole, and not to a certain form of rule or to a political regime. Democracy can be direct or representative, real (which has never actually existed in the human history), formal (as in antiquity, or the modern Western countries), or a fiction (as in the USSR and other so-called socialist countries).
Commenting on the term in an interview for ''
Expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...
'' published in 2006,
Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
said that
sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
and
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
belong in different conceptual categories and that fusing them is impossible. "If you take the word 'democracy' and start attaching qualifiers to it that would seem a little odd. It would lead one to think that we're talking about some other, non-traditional type of democracy." On 19 July 2006,
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
commented on the abolitions of single-member constituencies as well as the raising of the threshold for participation in the
Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
to 7%. He stated that "these innovations into legislation cannot be justified by theories of 'sovereign' or 'managed' democracy. Limitations that may be found to be necessary when the very existence of the government and its citizens may be threatened must be looked upon as temporary, and not elevated into principles, like is done by the theorists of 'sovereign' and 'managed' democracy. These kinds of definitions distort the essence of democracy, just like the concepts of 'socialist' and 'people's' democracy before them." Whilst talking about sovereign democracy in 2006,
Mikhail Kasyanov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov ( rus, link=no, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Касья́нов, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsʲjanəf; born 8 December 1957) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia fr ...
said that "... the aims of this doctrine are quite clear: the concentration and holding of political power and property at any cost. The consequences of this are already evident, including the glorification of populism, the steady destruction of private and public institutions and the departure from the principles of the law, democracy, and the free market." United States
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs is a position within the United States Department of State that leads the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs charged with implementing American foreign policy in Europe and Eu ...
Daniel Fried Daniel Fried (born 1952) is an American diplomat, who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2005 to 2009 and United States ambassador to Poland from 1997 to 2000.Authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political '' status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic vot ...
*
Conservative democracy Conservative democracy () is a label coined by the ruling Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey to describe Islamic democracy. Forming as a modernist breakaway party from former Islamism, Islamist mo ...
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Guided democracy Guided democracy, also called managed democracy, is a formally democratic government that functions as a ''de facto'' authoritarian government or in some cases, as an autocratic government. Such hybrid regimes are legitimized by elections tha ...
*
Human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
*
Illiberal democracy An illiberal democracy describes a governing system in which, although elections take place, citizens are cut off from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise real power because of the lack of civil liberties; thus it does not con ...


References


Sources


Project "Russia—Sovereign democracy"
analytical portal.
"Sovereignty is a political synonym for the ability to compete"
Vladislav Surkov, public speech, 7 February 2006
"Nationalisation of the Future"
Vladislav Surkov

Vladislav Surkov, briefing, 28 June 2006 {{Vladimir Putin Politics of Russia Types of democracy