Neopatrimonialism : the Russian regime through a Weberian lens

Abstract

“Since any order is better than any disorder, any order is established”— this Hobbesian observation by Adam Przeworski captures the existing level of certainty about the classification of the current Russian regime (1991: 86). The mere existence of the Russian Leviathan is the only fact beyond doubt, its genus and species being a matter of controversy: is it an electoral authoritarianism, a hybrid regime, a managed or defective democracy, an autocracy, a petro-state, or perhaps a fascist state, as asserted by Alexander Motyl 2016? The answer would not only interest scholars but also elucidate the country’s prospects and the probability of regime change (Fisun 2012: 91).