Putin & His Eternal Leadership

By Lauren m. '21

Though Russia has undergone incredible transformations over the last century, these last two decades have had one unwavering constant. President Vladimir Putin has held power over the Russian Federation for the entirety of the 21st century thus far, and does not plan to give it up.

Russia’s major reformations began in the early 20th century. Vladimir Lenin, a major revolutionary, developed his own ideology, called Leninism. His ideology followed Marxism, which is a political and social theory developed by Karl Marx that declared that the power be given to the proletariat, meaning that political decisions should be made by the people. Lenin placed emphasis upon the idea of the state being controlled by the soviets, or elected officials on a council. 

Upon Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin was introduced as the leader of the Communist Party. He controlled the USSR through its beginnings and was a prevalent force throughout World War II, developing military strength and industrial output that was then stunted by the end of the war.

These influences have shaped the history of Russia by creating a common thread of a communist rulings. This left a major imprint on Russia after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. 

Putin is the longest-standing ruler of Russia since Stalin. Although Russia is currently a constitutional republic, its president has not changed for the last twenty years. President Putin served as prime minister before becoming president of Russia in August of 2000. At that point, a Russian presidential term was four years, and a president was able to serve for two consecutive terms. Putin finished his second term in 2008 and was succeeded by Dmitry Medvedev, who served under Putin as prime minister throughout his two terms. This raised some eyebrows within the Kremlin and the country about whether or not a power transfer was ever really made: Putin and Medvedev had been on friendly terms for many years previous, and some have wondered if this was just a move to help Putin remain in power after Medvedev’s term. 

Medvedev served as president between the years 2008 and 2012, during which time amendments were made to the Russian constitution that lengthened the presidential term from four years to six. Putin was reinstated as president in 2012. This change was permitted because it was no longer considered three consecutive terms, as Medvedev’s one term interrupted Putin’s. 

This July, the Russian people voted on constitutional changes and the lengthening of Putin’s term. There were about 200 changes that were proposed, but there was a catch: the citizens could only agree to all of them, or none of them. This essentially guaranteed that Putin would be able to serve until at least 2036, as many of the proposed changes looked favorably upon requests that had been made by the people. 

So, what does this mean for the future of Russia and its international relations, and why is Putin so intent on remaining in power?

Russia is a personalist autocracy, meaning extreme power settles into the hands of one or more people, usually creating corruption and allowing these leaders to stay in power. Research shows that countries with personalist autocracies tend to have the most turbulent international interactions as well as leaders that are unpredictable. 

It’s not easy to predict what the future of Russia will look like, but one thing is likely: Vladimir Putin will remain president for as long as he sees fit.