Putin in the past could claim to have won at least an honest plurality, if not an honest majority of votes given his approval. However, in the upcoming election this fall, in September, it looks like the Kremlin has so restricted political competition that it's going to be a difficult sell to the Russian public to show that these elections are even as legitimate as the elections held in 2016 or in 2011.

Timothy Frye

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on personalism here.

Timothy Frye is a Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy at Columbia University and a research director at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Key Highlights Include

• Is Putin's popularity real?
• Why Russia holds elections at all
• Description of Russia as a personalist autocracy
• How autocracy shapes Russia's foreign policy
• What are the prospects for democratization in Russia

Key Links

Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia by Timothy Frye

Russia's Weak Strongman: The Perilous Bargains That Keep Putin in Power by Timothy Frye in Foreign Affairs

Follow Timothy Frye on Twitter @timothymfrye

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