The Kremlin Emboldened: Paradoxes of Decline

The Russian system of personalized power is growing ever more dependent on the same strategies that proved useless in sustaining the USSR. While the system still has the potential to limp along, its survival tactics render the it progressively more dysfunctional. Among the circumstances weighing against the system’s survival are the unintended yet logical consequences of the regime’s own strategies for monopolizing power and resources. While there are grounds for cautious optimism regarding Russian society’s future beyond the system, the system itself is moving toward its self-destruction.