Putin taps popular culture for legitimacy

Washington, DC

THE analytical tools of political science - which variously describe the Russian regime as undemocratic, illiberal, authoritarian or patronal - fall short of providing an understanding of legitimacy mechanisms at work in the Russian society. Popular culture, often seen as reflecting the values of the overarching political system, can also be an engineer of ideological content - and may help explain Russian President Vladimir Putin's success.

His re-election for a fourth presidential term in March - by a margin of 76 per cent, with 70 per cent turnout - was a success for the Kremlin, needed to strengthen the regime's legitimacy in order to face forthcoming challenges including stagnating growth and wages. Observers report that the level of falsification of the poll may have been lower than in 2012, but still amounted to several million votes. To this should be added about seven million votes secured through administrative and corporate enforcement. Even without these manipulations, however, Mr Putin would likely have received 70 per cent of the vote with just over 50 per cent turnout - a good result that many Western politicians would envy.