From Discourse to Action in Contemporary Russia: the Emergence of Authoritarian Neoliberal Governance
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Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ (Public Scrutiny) from Discourse to Action in Contemporary Russia: The Emergence of Authoritarian Neoliberal Governance Submitted by Catherine Anne May Owen to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics In September 2014 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: ………………………………………………………….. 1 2 Abstract This thesis explores the emergence and proliferation of public consultative bodies (PCBs) in contemporary Russia. Created by the government and regulated by law, PCBs are formal groups of NGO leaders, academics, journalists, entrepreneurs and public figures selected by the state, that perform advisory, monitory and support functions to government departments and individuals at federal, regional and municipal levels. The concept of obshchestvennyi kontrol’ (public scrutiny) is employed by Kremlin to refer to the dual activities of oversight and assistance, which PCBs are intended to enact. First appearing ten years ago with the foundation of the Federal Public Chamber in 2004, there are now tens of thousands of PCBs in operation across the country. This thesis constitutes the first systematic analysis of PCBs in English. It uses a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach in order to explore the extent to which the portrayal of PCBs in government discourse corresponds to the practices enacted through these institutions in three regional case studies of Moscow, St Petersburg and Samara. It finds that although PCBs are presented by federal and regional leaders as means for citizens merely to assist the authorities in the performance of tasks decided by the state, in practice PCBs can enable citizens modestly to influence policy outcomes and occasionally to shape public agendas. They therefore cannot be dismissed as mere ‘window dressing’ for the authorities. The thesis shows that PCBs were created as part of the market reform of the Soviet- era public sector, in which processes of privatisation, outsourcing and decentralisation reduced the state’s ability to make public policy without input from domestic non-state actors. It argues that the limited participation in governance afforded to citizens through PCBs exemplifies practices of ‘authoritarian neoliberal governance’, a concept that captures the attempts by the state to control policy outcomes produced through new public participatory mechanisms arising from the marketization of state bureaucracy. Although the thesis focuses on the case of Russia, the concept of ‘authoritarian neoliberal governance’ raises the question of the existence of commensurable mechanisms in other non-democratic polities. 3 4 Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 7 A Note on Transliteration ................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ and the Network of Public Consultative Bodies ................................. 11 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 18 Chapter Outline ............................................................................................................................ 32 Chapter One: Limited Pluralism in Russian Governance 1864-2014 .............................................. 37 Zemstvos in Late Imperial Russia ................................................................................................. 39 Governance in the Soviet Union .................................................................................................. 47 Post-Soviet Governance: From Nomenclatura to a Neoliberal Public Sector? ............................ 56 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 77 Chapter Two: Constructing Authoritarian Neoliberal Governance .................................................. 80 Neoliberalizing the State .............................................................................................................. 82 From Government to Governance? ............................................................................................. 89 Authoritarian Neoliberal Governance .......................................................................................... 97 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 108 Chapter Three: Emergence ............................................................................................................ 110 From Rabochyi Kontrol’ to Narodnyi Kontrol’ ............................................................................ 113 International Discourse of ‘Good Governance’ .......................................................................... 124 The Kremlin’s Discourse of Civic Engagement in Governance ................................................... 135 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 148 Chapter Four: Hegemony ............................................................................................................... 151 Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ of Prisons .......................................................................................... 153 Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ of Elections ....................................................................................... 161 ‘On the Foundations of Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ in the Russian Federation’ .......................... 173 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 182 Chapter Five: Recontextualisation and Operationalisation in the Centre: Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ from Discourse to Action Moscow and St Petersburg ................................................................... 185 Moscow ...................................................................................................................................... 191 Local Regime .......................................................................................................................... 191 Recontextualisation ................................................................................................................ 197 Operationalisation .................................................................................................................. 204 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 212 St Petersburg .............................................................................................................................. 213 Local Regime .......................................................................................................................... 214 Recontextualisation ................................................................................................................ 218 Operationalisation .................................................................................................................. 225 5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 231 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 232 Chapter Six: Recontextualisation and Operationalisation in the Regions: Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ from Discourse to Action in Samara............................................................................................... 235 Local Regime .............................................................................................................................. 236 Rearticulation ............................................................................................................................. 241 Operationalisation ...................................................................................................................... 250 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 259 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 262 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 277 Interview Details ............................................................................................................................ 311 6 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been completed without the input of numerous individuals, and I am deeply