Two Forward, One Back.(Point of View)(Vladimir Putin)

Putin caged rather than killed the freedoms of the capitalist revolution. He ratified the era's gains.

Russia's capitalist revolution began with the dismantling of the Communist system under Mikhail Gorbachev and culminated with the freedom parade of Boris Yeltsin. But what will be the legacy of Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin? To his supporters, he is a stabilizer who put Russia back on track after years of chaos. To his detractors, he is the man who stopped Russia's democratic development--and then rolled it back. Both have elements of truth. But the fact remains that Putin caged rather than killed the freedoms of the capitalist revolution. While his forebears took the proverbial two steps forward, he took a step back, largely preserving, rather than reversing, the principal gains of that era. Yes, property rights are still far from assured. But there is no longer any debate about private property as such. In addition, Russia is a far more open place than ever before. Although crossing its borders can be difficult, the problem for Russians today is getting a visa from foreign consulates, not securing permission from the Russian government to leave the country. The debate over religion has changed dramatically, too. The focus on state persecution of the church has been supplanted by perceived threats to secularism.

And democracy? Putin's critics argue he killed the seeds planted in the Gorbachev years and nurtured in the Yeltsin era--an argument that should not be trivialized. But it is also important to remember that the anti-communism of the late 1980s and the weakness of the state in the 1990s were insufficient for constructing a truly democratic polity. Even now, democracy remains an unpopular notion in Russia. Putin's claim to legitimacy is based on the phenomenal support he enjoys from the bulk of the Russian people. If this is authoritarianism (and it is), it thrives with the consent (or passivity) of the governed.

Ironically, Putin helped lay down the conditions under which democracy can flourish. He presided over eight years of steady economic growth and, while part of his success was due to the luck of high energy prices, his government's macroeconomic policies were prudent. Prosperity is slowly trickling down, helping to create a middle class. This group is not yet self-conscious as a political force, preferring moneymaking and merrymaking instead. But it is learning to ...