How Much Political Power Does Vladimir Putin Have?

[alphaboi867]

@Telperion

…I think you have that backwards. The head of government has the ultimate say in how a nation should be governed through appointing ministers and veto powers, and there’s nothing unofficial about that. The head of state may be without parliamentary powers however, as is the case in most modern European monarchies.

Only Stalin and Khrushchev choose to be “head of government” (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR); Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev all elected to become the nominal “head of state” (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR). Brezhnev & Gorbachev didn’t get an official office of state until a few years after they became General Secretary.

Becoming “head of state” clarified their position abroud in diplomatic protocol. The reason why all Soviet leaders were called “Premier” in Western media is because Stalin held that office (Chairman of the Council of People’s Commisars) during WWII when the USSR was one of the Allied powers and the title stuck even if it was technically innaccurate.

[Fotheringay-Phipps]

@qazwart

It isn’t unusual for those who hold real power not to be in actual positions of power, but be able to pull various strings and command the loyalty of those who can make trouble. This happens not just in Russia, but all over the place. Back in the early 20th century, many Southern counties in the U.S. were controlled by a boss who held no official power. He simply controlled the political machine that was in office.

Other examples include the Ayatolla Khomeini and Deng Xiaoping (late in life).

[ruadh]

@code_grey

So what if he was head of Gazprom or whatever? Maybe he was a figurehead head. Or maybe he was a “real” head who was clueless - not an uncommon thing nowadays in management, whether in Russia or in the West.

He could have been, sure, but by all accounts he wasn’t. Nobody was claiming that at the time that he was made Deputy PM anyway. If you go back and read the media reports of that appointment, they’re full of commentary about his business acumen and where he stood politically. These issues were also regularly discussed when there was a genuine presidential race on. It’s only once Putin formally backed him that all of a sudden he became this faceless former paper-shuffler with no mind of his own.

As far as opinion polls go, if the ruling party tells people the Earth is flat, Medvedev is ruler and Obamacare is good for the working class, you will see this belief to some extent reflected in the polls.

Well, that works both ways. If the western media keeps telling westerners that Medvedev is Putin’s puppet a lot of them will start to believe it, too. I’m not qualified to say one way or the other but I do think the fact that that is only a minority view among the people who actually live in Russia - and presumably follow Russian internal politics much more closely than we do - is at least worth pointing out. Which is why I pointed it out.

As for those cites about Putin running again it’s hard to tell whether they are genuine hints or whether he’s just being typically cagey. I don’t think there’s the basis there for the assumption that he will run again. That he might, OK.