Russia's unique leadership idea

BEIJING, July 16 -- It has been two months since

president-turned Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is also chairman of the

party in power United Russian, and President Dmitry Medvedev formed a "dual-core

team" of Russian leadership. Observers worldwide have been watching closely the

efficiency and prospects of this team. As the product of an extraordinary time

the Medvedev-Putin pairing represents a number of philosophical qualities.

The first is unity of oppositeness. With eight years

of experience as the Russian head of state and still at his prime, Putin could

have won another term had it not been ruled out by the Constitution and he was

left with the second best way to ensure he continues to play a special role in

state politics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd

L), President-elect Dmitry Medvedev (2nd R) and United Russia party leader

Boris Gryzlov (L) arrive to attend the congress of the ruling United

Russia party in Moscow, April 15, 2008. (Chinese media Photo) Photo Gallery

The Medvedev-Putin pairing is the brainchild of

Putin's team and Medvedev is in his present position as Putin's double. Their

current relationship resembles that between the commander and political

commissar in the Soviet military of yesteryear.

Medvedev is the bona fide head of state while Putin

the "spiritual leader" of the nation. The "dual-core" power structure somehow

reminds people of the two-headed eagle featured in the national emblem and the

theory of unity of oppositeness.

The actual practice today shows that the government

is somewhat more powerful than before, including managing some powerful offices

and local government officials.

This will replace the past particularity of a weak

government headed by a super-powerful president with a situation characterized

by the "strong combination" of a powerful president and powerful government. It

means United Russia is turning from a party of power to a ruling party while the

presidency is in a way evolving into a half-president, half-parliament and

cabinet system.

The second is duality of things. The Medvedev-Putin

pairing first accomplished the smooth arrangement of top national leaders

according to Putin's design.

The second step the new power structure is taking and

will maintain in the future is the practice of sustaining the president's

authority as prescribed by the Constitution while allowing Putin to play his

special role. There has not been much controversy as far as these two steps are

concerned.

The third step will be an examination of the results of the first two to see if they will remain stable for a long time, what loopholes they have and what problems they may cause. To this the assessment will differ markedly from one point of view to another.

The Medvedev-Putin pairing faces one of three

prospects. One is privity and smoothness, which is exactly what they hope for

and more likely to realize. Another is reluctance and making do, which cannot be

totally ruled out since their cooperation could bring to unforeseen obstacles.

Then there is breakdown and breakup, which seems quite impossible.

The reason is simple: Putin would not pick and

support someone he is prepared to overthrow, because that is not in Russia's

national interest. The Medvedev-Putin pairing needs time to fine-tune their

teamwork and things can go either way during that time. Everything is either

conventional or otherwise, and it is usually the former that counts.

The third is necessity and contingency. It is not

correct to say that Boris Yeltsin achieved nothing during his eight or nine

years as Russian president, but the country's general condition and especially

its economy were in really bad shape back then.

Someone capable of leading the country out of a slump

will emerge from a nation such as Russia when circumstances warrant it, as does

the emergence of someone like Putin, though his emergence itself is a

contingency. The same can be said of Medvedev as well.

Russia's rejuvenation after years of efforts to put

things back in order following the period of chaos caused by the breakdown of

the Soviet Union was inevitable. Yeltsin "destroyed" the soviet-style socialism

and threw the nation into years of "chaos" as a result.

His successor Putin spent eight years bringing Russia

out of the "mess" and back in "order" and now the country is regaining strength.

That has come to be known as the "Putin era" and the Medvedev-Putin pairing will

carry on the mission that Putin started.

Russia is a nation in transformation, which is

inevitable in that it has abandoned the Soviet-style socialism without

converting to the European-U.S.-style social model and shares some of China's

reform concepts, but its format is different from China's. Putin once said

Russia's thinking "combines organically the common values of the humankind with

Russia's time-tested traditional values". This is in a way inevitable, too.

The fourth is generality and particularity. Russia

normally follows a general presidential election process but each winner's

background and condition were different. Medvedev succeeded the Russian

presidency in a situation totally different from Putin's when he became

president of Russia. Where Putin dumped the mess left by Yeltsin and started

anew, Medvedev found himself marching ahead with Putin on the path chosen by his

predecessor.

For Medvedev it is "following Putin's rule" whereas what Putin did is continuation, improvement and completion. Since the previous president could not achieve perfect score and left behind some problems, his successor must make policy adjustments and corrections, which does not mean Medvedev will do anything against Putin personally but that both of them will shoulder the task.