The Hindu : Resurgent nationalism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Resurgent nationalism

THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, Vladimir Putin, has reason to be pleased with the result of the parliamentary election held last Sunday. United Russia, a party made up of Mr. Putin's loyalists, has obtained over 37 per cent of the vote and might get a majority on its own in the lower house of Parliament, the State Duma. Two other parties that broadly subscribe to the President's nationalist agenda, the Liberal Democratic Party and Rodina, together garnered another 20 per cent. Given an electoral system where half the 450 seats in the Duma are allotted on the basis of the vote share of each party and the rest are filled by direct election, the nationalist bloc could gain an absolute majority. About the only opposition the nationalists will face is from the Communist party that will have less than half the 117 seats it had in the outgoing house after its share of the vote fell from 24 to 12.7 per cent. The two pro-Western parties, the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko, will have no parliamentary representation since they failed to clear the qualifying mark of 5 per cent of the vote. The configuration of the incoming Duma will enable Mr. Putin to control the pace and direction of economic and administrative reform. It will also provide him with the parliamentary strength to amend the Constitution to delete the provision that prevents him from seeking a third term in office. The result appears to indicate that he will easily win a second term when presidential elections are held in March next year.

While Mr. Putin claimed that he stood above the electoral fray, his administration did not hide its preferences. However, this does not necessarily mean that the nationalist bloc performed so well only because it received unstinted administrative support. The Russian President enjoys an approval rating of over 80 per cent and this support was apparently transferred to United Russia, which is led by Cabinet Ministers and packed with federal and regional bureaucrats. Allegations that Kremlin advocates of a strong state rigged the polls need not be taken seriously. It was not as if the nationalists were pitted against the Russian masses. The deeper political struggle was between nationalists and the handful of robber barons who took control of huge chunks of the Russian economy when the Soviet Union collapsed. In attempting to convert their economic clout into political power, these oligarchs did not hesitate to subvert state institutions. They also provided the conduit by which Western governments and financial interests were able to influence Russia's internal affairs during the term of President Boris Yeltsin. However, the heads of the Russian conglomerates will continue to have a powerful say in Parliament since they or their representatives figured on the list of candidates of all parties including the Communists. The nationalist bloc in the incoming Duma will have its work cut out as it tries to redistribute wealth by imposing heavier taxes on the conglomerates and to curb their plunder of the country's natural resources.

The resurgence of Russian nationalism should have a balancing impact on international affairs. It can contribute to the restoration of multi-polarity at a time when the sole superpower is straining to impose its unilateralist vision on the rest of the world. Russia, under President Putin's leadership, has taken an independent position on vital issues such as Iraq. It did so even as it coped with the efforts of the United States to cut into its traditional spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. A Russian President who has strong parliamentary backing should become even more assertive.

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