Data: Putin on the Fritz
Russia watchers remember the late 1980s and early '90s as a time when tyrannies toppled and the archetypal Evil Empire was dissolved. The intervening years, alas, have shown that building a free country is more than a matter of switching flags and ordering new stationery: The latest survey from the watchdog group Freedom House downgraded Russia from "partly free" to "not free." The country has fallen to its 1988 level, now sharing a "political freedom" rating with Iran and Lebanon and a "civil liberties" rating with Egypt, Qatar, and Chad.
Much of the blame lies with President Vladimir Putin, whose penchant for "managed democracy" has manifested itself in stronger state control of the press and the cancellation of regional elections. But it's worth noting that the decline into unfreedom from a post-Soviet plateau begins in the late '90s, before Putin took office. The president is not the only problem in Russia, and the country's slide into authoritarianism could outlive his departure.
Graph: Political and Civil Liberties in Russia (not available online)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
nryd