Putin Can’t Go On Forever, Can He? How Russian Leaders Obtain, Retain, and Lose Power

“Putin Can’t Go On Forever, Can He? How Russian Leaders Obtain, Retain, and Lose Power”

Speaker: Weber, Y. (Daniel Morgan Graduate School)

Date: 11 October 2018

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Yuval Weber (Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security) as a part of its SMA EUCOM Speaker Series. During his presentation, Dr. Weber addressed two key questions: 1) How is power practiced in Russia? and 2) What motivates Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian regime? He explained that Russia believes that the contemporary national order should have begun with the end of the Cold War (1989) rather than the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) and that Putin strives to revise the international order to make the world look more like it did in 1989 than it did in 1991. He also explained that there are two competing visions of power in Russia: the “Iron Tsar” and the “Adjudicator-in-Chief.” Dr. Weber highlighted the sources of Putin’s power and explained how he has been able to secure his leadership over an extended period of time. He then discussed the problems facing Putin and how he could potentially lose power. To conclude his presentation, Dr. Weber highlighted several questions that Putin’s core supporters should ask themselves and addressed the questions of “who comes next?” and “what can we expect in the future?”