Why Russia’s new prime minister is no place holder
The appointment of Mikhail Mishustin highlights the Putin system’s fundamental paradox — an antiquated, deeply corrupt model that values technocratic brilliance
After a blitz of constitutional reform proposals aimed at keeping him in power after his presidential term ends in 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin named his new prime minister — a tech-obsessed tax administrator with no interest in politics. The appointment highlights the Putin system’s fundamental paradox: It is an antiquated, Byzantine, nepotistic, deeply corrupt governance model that nevertheless values and rewards technocratic brilliance.
In the Russian power succession scheme, the prime minister takes over when the president is for some reason unable to govern; prime minister Putin became acting president when Boris Yeltsin resigned in the final minutes of 1999. Putin waited out Dmitry Medvedev’s presidential term between 2008 and 2012 as prime minister, and Medvedev assumed the post afterwards. But there have been periods under both Yeltsin and Putin when the prime minister post was not occupied by politically ambitious or important individuals; those were times w...
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