Collective learning and regime dynamics under uncertainty

Labour reform and the way to autocracy in Russia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6254203
AutoresIvan S Grigoriev (0000-0002-0058-8583, National Research University Higher School of Economics), Anna A Dekalchuk (0000-0003-2032-3205, National Research University Higher School of Economics)
Ano2016
Páginas1-17
Data de publicação2016-09-01
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510347.2016.1223629
OpenAlexW2517850212
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas33

The article questions the structural approach to autocratic transition that sees government as knowingly and purposely building autocracy, and contributes to the tradition emphasizing the plurality of possible regime developments and the role of contingency therein, by providing a more systematic treatment of such contingency. We offer a path-dependent theory of political change and use insights from cognitive institutionalism to show how ad hoc policy reform practices become accepted as a trusted way of interaction by political actors and how they "learn" their way into autocracy. This intuition is substantiated with a case-study of the labour reform in Putin's Russia. The early 2000s marked a surge in uncertainty in Russian politics caused by the succession crisis and the profound political turnover it triggered. This uncertainty could have resolved in a number of ways, each leading to a different political development. We trace the actual way out of this uncertainty and show that the major factor to condition further regime trajectory was the way social reforms were conducted. The course of these reforms determined the ruling coalition and the institutions that ensure credible commitment within its ranks (the dominant party), and contributed to crowding out the political market and opposition decay

Autocracy · Contingency · Democracy · Economic system · Economics · Law and economics · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Regime change · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Social Policy and Reform Studies