Autumn Wilhide

Ms. Witmer
AP Comparative Government
6 August 2015
Reflection on Putins Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy
In the Western world of politics, most of the policies and ideals are kept close to home. A
number of American citizens wish to keep interests focused on the United States exclusively,
limiting knowledge about the political structure of other democracies around the world. One
democracy in particular screams for attention: Russia. Led by a hostile president, Vladimir Putin,
Russia itself is quickly failing as a democracy and retrogressing to a Soviet nation once more. In
her novel Putins Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy, journalist Anna Politkovskaya exposes
the problems of Russias governmental structure to foreign readers in an attempt to bring
awareness and possibly change to the state.
Politkovskaya discusses the many numerous issues of Russia under the leadership of
Putin. In the military, lower-ranking soldiers are neglected, beaten, and mistreated by their
higher-ranking officials. If a soldier is not of a certain rank, he will be forgotten on the battlefield
and left to die. Even in death, the bodies of lower-ranking soldiers are not delivered to the
families in a timely manner or even at all. Further, it is common for soldiers to be
malnourished and neglected to death even in the barracks themselves. The military is elitist, and
so too is the legal system. When being tried for a crime, rank plays a significant part. If one is a
high member of society or an ranked military official, the punishment for a serious crime with
valid proof such as rape or murder will be less than the punishment for a lower-ranking official

with a less significant crime based on pure speculation. Often, the legal system will punish
citizens for speaking against the government or being of a different ethnicity by charging them
with different crimes, and then manipulating the accused into admitting guilt for said fabricated
crime. More corruption lies within the legal system and the mafia. Under Putin, the mafia has
risen to power, taking over much of the land and properties, getting richer while the rest of the
country grows poorer. The mafia, owning so much, creates a monopoly of power. Yet perhaps
most flagrant in Russia is the extreme racism for Chechens. As an effect from the then-ongoing
second Chechen war, government officials exercised terrible discrimination against anyone from
Chechnya. The country under Putin, a former KGB officer, essentially becomes a militant
dystopia.
Russia, as depicted in this novel and from my own existing knowledge, cannot be called a
liberal democracy. Putin acts more as a dictator than a president in making his own decisions.
For example, he has banned all Internet content poking fun at him in any way, shape, or form.
Further, he allows his country to be ruled mainly by syndicated crime groups. The mafia, through
money and violence, holds much power in the country. Great discrepancy exists in equality under
the law, a commonly accepted doctrine of liberal democracy. Crime often goes unpunished or
ignored. The military seems to operate on its own rules, taking no true direction from the
Commander-in-Chief, Putin himself. Further, the military acts more as a prison rather than an
outlet for patriotism and protection. The country is off-balanced, with power and money being
focused in Moscow, and the rest of the huge country left to fend for itself. The power balance is
also apparent in different members of society. For past war veterans, the state offers no help or
benefits after one leaves the military. Politkovskaya translates this to a higher crime rate, as
trained killers are released to the country with little skills or prospects beyond murder. While

Putin cares little about the average citizen, he pays special attention to his cronies and highranking officials, making sure they are well treated in society. In its current state, one cannot
consciously label Russia as a flourishing democracy. Russia is too much filled with social,
political, and economic imbalance to even be considered anything close to a true, liberal
democracy.