16 August 2003 20:22
Russia needs new accord between authorities, business and people - paper
Russia needs a new social accord, which takes into account the interests of business, the authorities and the public,
says an article by Avtandil Tsuladze in the Russian weekly Argumenty i Fakty. Tsuladze thinks that unless such an accord
is achieved, the country will face "political conflicts and upheavals, another economic crisis and so on". The
following is the text of Tsuladze's article published by Argumenty i Fakty on 12 August. Subheadings as
published:
One of the most striking legacies bequeathed by Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin is the notorious oligarchs. These are
people who suddenly became owners of the choicest cuts of state property thanks to their special closeness to power.
With the passage of time, some of these men started to free themselves from the master's grip, and aspired to the
role of independent politicians. Their overactive interference in government ended with the default in 1998. A year
later the Yeltsin administration that spawned them was replaced.
Vladimir Putin began his presidency by keeping an equal distance from all the oligarchs who proved unwilling to give
up the habit of "ruling" the state. As a result, the nonconformist oligarchs, Boris Berezovskiy and Vladimir
Gusinskiy, were forced into exile, while the conformist ones joined the ranks of the Russian Union of Industrialists and
Entrepreneurs. Nearly the whole of Vladimir Putin's first term has been conducted on the premise of an implicit
agreement between the oligarchs and the authorities - there will be no revision of privatization on the condition that
the oligarchs don't get publicly involved in politics. At his third expanded news conference Putin even called for
the word "oligarch" to be dropped and replaced by the term "big business". However, the delicate
balance between business and the authorities has broken down on the eve of elections. One of the oligarchs started to
talk too loudly about his political ambitions, and his company was soon facing problems.
Trial by elections
The elections are a test of the stability of Vladimir Putin's power system. Another of these tests is the
violation of the agreement between business and the authorities. It came about because the understanding between the
Kremlin and the oligarchs did not take into account the interests of the public. What's more, as the elections
loom, politicians are forced to take stock of public opinion and to adjust their course accordingly. The oligarchs are
extremely unpopular with the public. Most people think their wealth is not legitimate. So the agreement of 2000 has
become hopelessly obsolete. A new agreement is needed which will also take account of the interests of the public.
Instead of the "authorities-business" dialogue there should be a triangular
"authorities-business-public" arrangement.
Today Vladimir Putin is the public's representative, and he enjoys their almost complete trust. However, he also
represents the authorities. In order to solve the difficulty of this duality, the political parties need to be involved
in the framing of a new agreement as the representatives of the public. Putin's main support among the public today
is One Russia.
New rules of the game
The "public-business-authorities" triangle should give rise to new rules for the game. In particular, this
should include an increase in the social responsibility of business; safeguarding business from inference by state
bodies; and the legalization of capital assets (through the mechanism of an amnesty, for example). If this approach is
adopted, in the final analysis, everyone will be a winner. If it is not, then we face political conflicts and upheavals,
another economic crisis and so on. To paraphrase Marx and Engels: "A spectre is stalking Russia, the spectre of
civil war... [ellipsis as published]"
However, for the moment, it is only a spectre. In fact, affairs have not advanced so far. There is every chance of a
new agreement being framed between business, the authorities and the public without undermining political stability or
provoking another crisis. On the one hand, we have the questionable legitimacy of capital, the piles of compromising
materials on the oligarchs and the strengthening of the political positions of security figures. On the other, we have
the tasks of accelerating economic growth (to at least double GDP in 10 years), attracting foreign investment, and
making up the gap that separates Russia from the West. In order to balance these priorities, a historic compromise must
be reached, and a new formula found for business and the authorities to work together, which would benefit the whole of
society.
[Argumenty i Fakty] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
