Legitimacy in Contemporary Russia (2015)

Undergraduate: Temitope Elutilo-Ayoola

Faculty Advisor: Graeme Robertson
Department: Political Science

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In 2011, protests erupted in the streets of Russia in response to the results of the Duma elections and erupted once again in 2012 in response to the presidential elections that elected Vladimir Putin to his third presidential term. Now those protests have subsided. Even more peculiar is the fact that Putin and his government have been able to maintain this support against the backdrop of a failing economy which was one of his pillars of popular support in his previous two terms. Russia¿¿¿s domestic situation under Putin¿¿¿s third presidential term has in fact seemed to worsen since the last time that he took office as Russia suffers from economic sanctions, isolation from the international community due to its involvement in the Ukraine crisis, collapse of the Ruble, and persistent corruption. How exactly has Putin been able to restore and maintain his legitimacy in the eyes of the Russian people in his third presidential term in the midst of a failing economy and as many of the protester's original grievances continue to go unaddressed? My research question is focused on examining how Putin has been able to regain and maintain legitimacy following the 2012 protests till present day without actually addressing the grievances of the Russian population. I ultimately argue that by altering his legitimization strategy from performance-based legitimacy to value-based legitimacy, Putin has been able to reassert his right to rule over the Russian state.