B ofrst \ y o t Po«K:n ana gemmae ac,ence_ Russia in Movement S. A. Greene The London School of Economics and Political Science Russia in Movement: Civil Society and the State in Putin’s Russia Samuel A. Greene A thesis submitted to the European Institute of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, March 2010 1 UMI Number: U615977 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615977 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 mazes Russia in Movement S. A. Greene Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. 2 Russia in Movement S. A. Greene Abstract The weakness of civil society in post-Soviet Russia has been widely discussed and is generally attributed to combinations of historical and cultural factors and authoritarian repression. This thesis adopts a conceptualization of civil society, drawn in part from social movement theory, which emphasizes the nature of interaction between citizens and the state. A series of three case studies traces the genesis and development of civic organizations and protest movements in Russia, involving human, housing and property rights, in order to discern how Russian citizens perceive their relationship with the state and form (or do not form) strategies for collective action. In the first case, the NGO Public Verdict finds success in defending individual citizens from law enforcement abuses but is incapable of affecting systemic change. In the second case, local protests over housing-related issues evolve into sustained movements but are unable to coalesce in the face of a state that prefers ad hoc policymaking. And lastly, spontaneous protests over proposed limits on the import of used cars from Japan grow into one of Russia’s only sustained grass-roots social movements, capable of forcing the state into concessions and gaining a seat at the policy table. These studies are analyzed in the context of the political economy of Russia during the presidency of Vladimir Putin, during which the elite consolidated authoritarian rule while disengaging from the public and public policymaking. The difficulties Russians face in mobilizing, then, are seen as stemming from the privatization of power and the highly individualized nature of state- society relations. But when the state departs from its disengagement and acts in a way that allows Russian citizens to generate and maintain a perception of themselves as an aggrieved group, the latter prove capable of mounting and sustaining an organized response in defense of their rights and interests. 3 Russia in Movement S. A. Greene Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements 7 Chapter 1: The Puzzle of Russian Civil Society: An Introduction 9 What We Know about Russian Civil Society 13 The Morphology of Governance 18 The Place of Civil Society 18 Democracy & Authoritarianism 20 Civil Society in Movement 23 Approach to Research 27 Synopsis 32 Chapter 2: Perspectives on Civil Society 35 Introduction 35 Political Philosophy and the Concept of the Civil Society 37 The Philosophy o f Right, Democracy in America and the 43 Triumph of Empiricism Marx, Weber and the Sociological Revolution 47 The Babelization of the Social Sciences 51 Social Capital, Structuration and New Thinking about 53 Institutions The Prism of Transition 58 Civil Society and Social Movements 62 Conclusions 66 Chapter 3: The Resource Curse and Russia’s Potemkin Revolution 72 Introduction 72 The Club Good of Soviet Power 76 The Resource Curse in Russia 87 The Potemkin Revolution: Disengaged Authoritarianism in 91 Russia Conclusions: Putin’s Russia 102 Chapter 4: Civil Society in Russia: What We Do and Do Not Know 107 Russian Civil Society in Laws and Numbers 109 Hypothesis 1: Culture & History 113 Hypothesis 2: Social Capital & Trust 116 Hypothesis 3: The Regime 120 An Agenda for Research 124 Chapter 5: Private Brutality and Public Verdicts: The Failure of Human 129 Rights in Russia Introduction 129 The Beatings of Sergei Oleinik and Nikita Gladyshev 133 Pogroms in Sochi and Bezhetsk 138 Public Pressure: Injustice in the Media 141 Internal Pressure: Russia’s Criminal Justice System 147 The State-Society Relationship and the Meaning of Law in 149 Russia 4 Russia in Movement S. A. Greene Conclusions 160 Chapter 6: Our Home is Russia: The Futility of Russia’s Housing- 163 Rights Movements Introduction 163 The L 'gotniki: Setting the Stage 164 The Butovo Uprising: Anatomy of a Protest 166 Mobilization 168 The Broader Movement Environment 172 The State and the Movement 175 Conclusions 180 Chapter 7: Road Rage: Svoboda Vybora and the Automotive Rebellion 182 Theoretical Considerations 183 19 May: Genesis 186 Initial Intrusion and the Injustice Frame 186 Something from Nothing: the Germ of a Social 189 Movement Choosing a Course of Action 192 The Authorities’ Reaction 194 Interim Conclusions 196 Svoboda Vybora: Development 196 New Challenges 196 Movement Identity 201 Patterns of State Reaction: Co-opt, Control, Concede 206 Consolidation: Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? 209 Crystallization of Conflict Lines 209 Alliances 212 Conclusions 217 Chapter 8: Context, Conclusions and Continuation: Power and 220 Opposition in Putin’s Russia Appendix I: Methodology & Data Collection 243 Works Cited 244 5 Russia in Movement S. A. Greene Table of Illustrations Table 3.1 - Size of the Central Committee (p. 79) Table 3.2 - Natural Resource Exports as a Percentage of Total Russian Merchandise Exports (p. 87) Table 3.3 - Percentage of GDP Spent on Public Health and Education in Post- Communist States (p. 95) Table 3.4 - Percentage of Tax Revenue from Individuals in Post-Communist States (p. 96) Table 4.1 - Total Number of Public Associations in Russia, 2000-2003 (p. 110) Table 4.2 - Total Number of Public Associations in Russia, 2004-2009 (p. 110) Table 4.3 - New Public Associations in Russia (p. Ill) Table 4.4 - Membership in Civil Society Organizations (p. 112) Table 4.5 - Sources of Influence on the Local Situation (p. 118) Box 5.1 - Oleinik Timeline (p. 134) Table 5.1 - Matrix of Cases (p. 150) Table. 5.2 - Victims of Crime: Which of the following has happened to you? (p. 152) Table. 5.3 - What Sorts of Police Infractions do Citizens Face Most Often (p. 153) Table 7.1 - Cars, Internet Access and Mobile Telephones in Russia (p. 191) 6 Russia in Movement S. A. Greene Acknowledgements This project has benefited from the support, guidance and insight of innumerable people, not all of whom I can name here. It goes without saying that I am forever indebted to the Russian citizens, activists, experts and well-wishers who informed this endeavor, including, but not limited to, all of those quoted in this thesis. At the LSE, I would like to thank first and foremost Abby Innes, without whom this project would never have begun, but who was, unfortunately, unable to see it through to completion. Tremendous thanks go to Sarah Ashwin, who bravely took over from Abby as my supervisor and whose patient, tireless and skilled guidance shepherded me through a long and convoluted process. Likewise, Jennifer Jackson-Preece’s last-minute addition to the team was invaluable in keeping the project on track. Terhi Rantanen and Chris Binns worked closely with this project in its early phases and provided the solid criticism that helped turn a nebulous idea into a doctoral thesis. And, of course, my colleagues at the School - especially Natalia Leshchenko, Tome Sandevski and Stacy Closson, as well as the inhabitants of J14 - offered the ideas, conversations and motivation that got me out of endless methodological, bibliographical and empirical labyrinths. Elsewhere in the academic world, I have benefited immeasurably from the advice, criticism and friendship of numerous scholars, including Marat Shterin, Graeme Robertson, Inna Deviatko, Henry Hale, Tatyana Vorozheikina, Charles Kurzman, Ellen Mickiewicz, Judith Kelley, Floriana Fossato, Andrey Makarychev, Guillermo Trejo, T.J. Shi, Bob Conrad, Mary McAuley, and Leah Gilbert. Special thanks go to my students in the Sociology Department of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, whose open minds and fresh approaches challenged me to keep my own mind open and my approaches fresh. Early on in this project, I benefited tremendously from a dissertation development workshop at Harvard University, organized and funded by the U.S. Social Sciences Research Council; particular thanks go to the SSRC and to Cynthia Buckley and Tim Colton for their critiques and encouragement. My fieldwork was made possible by two organizations that gave me a desk, a salary and the freedom to pursue my interests in Moscow.