Essay About Putinism

Vladimir Putin took over Russia May 7, 2000, over one hundred years after the last tsar of Russia was crowned. Although Putin and Tsar Nicholas II are from very different Russian eras, Putinism draws nostalgia from the reign of Tsar Nicholas II in X, and differs with toleration of religions.

Nickolay Aleksandrovich, or Tsar Nicholas II was crowned May 26, 1996. He was described as being “fitted for the complex tasks that awaited him as autocratic ruler of a vast empire” (Keep). After the October Revolution of 1917, Tsar Nicholas II and his entire family were detained and killed by the bolsheviks, being seen as corrupt and inefficient by the Russian citizens. His passing placed the Bolsheviks in power.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born October 7, 1952, served 15 years as a foreign intelligence for the KGB, before retiring as lieutenant colonel, and later accepting a position as advisor to Sobchak, a democratically elected St. Petersburg official. In 1999, former President Yeltsin asked Putin to join him as prime minister. When Putin came to power shortly after, he was seen as well-organized and decisive compared to the “years of Yeltsin’s erratic behavior” (Editors). However, after his deceptively positive start, Russia started to see what he really stood for.

Putinism is the ideology of Russia during Putin’s rule. Its values are drawn from “chauvinism, social conservatism, state capitalism, government domination of the media, and the pervasive sense of a nation surrounded by enemies” (Kirkus). Although criticized by many, Putin is still widely accepted as a strong leader with the help of allies such as former United States President George W. Bush. In his remarks, Bush describes Putin as a “strong leader who cares deeply about the people of his country and understands the issues that we face”. Before the cold war, Putin was viewed positively, and thought to do a good job serving his country (Kirkus). Putinism is, however, extremely anti-western, and sometimes even called anti-american. The idea of Putinism was “an idea mentally created by Putin and his fellow ruling elites”, which affect not only Putin himself, but the Russian government and security services that support him (Katz).