Maxim Sokolov about a strong president

Maxim Sokolov entered into a discussion on the topic of a "strong and weak" president (in particular, with the authors of an article in the magazine "Expert" "Two Presidents " , on February 24, 2004, publishing on the website of the "Civil Club" his article "March 14 as a thing in Putin will win the elections, but no one will understand what that means . "

“Kremlin ideologists (under which M. Sokolov most likely means the authors of the article in Expert T. Gurova, A. Privalov and V. Fadeev) proposed a concept according to which an indifferent attitude to elections, of course, will not deprive V .V. Putin of power, but will make him a weak president, forced to bend before politically dangerous and irresponsible pressure groups, while vigorous participation in the elections on the side of V. V. Putin, on the contrary, will give the country a strong president with a full-fledged mandate, on the basis of which he will pursue a reasonable policy necessary for the country and encourage the formation of a new political class adequate to the problems facing Russia .

M. Sokolov believes that " ... the problem of a strong and weak V.V. Putin can be easily classified as religious tolerance. Go vote (or don't vote) according to your faith - for there are more serious worries", since he considers the main pressing problem - the problem of the formation of a strong political class in the country.

The author criticizes the concept of a "strong president" from different angles. "The first incoherence is that concepts of this kind are presented exclusively to an elite audience, which at best makes up 2-3% of the total number of voters. ... In conditions of ... equal elections, these imbued (and even imbued?) 2-3% give little . " In addition, the concept is “obviously oriented towards the potential future elite, who are explained the benefits of a strong president. An ordinary citizen can understand this in such a way that again they want to enter paradise on my hump, and agitation will sooner backfire .

Then the author exposes the "doctrine of" Putin's majority ", that is, he critically analyzes the allegations about a high percentage of those who vote for Putin and considers the "rating frenzy" to be a kind of falsification. At the same time, M. Sokolov does not see anything terrible in high ratings. At the same time, he does not the “correction” of the rating is also frightening: “Why not allow that even after the upcoming correction [that is, after revealing the real percentage of those voting for Putin - ed. ] national elite will also rise and grow " the now crushed by a terrible rating, . ... The model is plausible to a certain extent - but no more so than others that are diametrically opposed to it. Opposition liberals even allow for V.V. Putin has higher qualities of mind and heart, believing that not only positive, but also negative stimulation can affect him for the better ... "

"The construction of the pro-Putin bet is based on the unconditional confidence that with a strong president, risks are practically eliminated, and all troubles come from weakness, while historical experience does not always give grounds for such confidence," continues M. Sokolov and gives some examples from the latest stories.

According to the author, the forthcoming elections 14 have virtually no alternatives, and their results are insignificant, in order to draw "any far-reaching conclusions" on their basis, and even more so - to associate specific problems of strengthening the elites with it . However, the question of " the formation of the Russian political elite, - writes M. Sokolov, - ... is achieved by recognizing a few simple things that have little to do with V.V. Putin himself ."

"If a critical mass of people accumulates, realizing that it is impossible to live without a strong political class, and ready to go to this embrasure, then no V.V. Putin (and even the terrible Ivanov-Sechin) will not be able to harm this", concludes M Sokolov.

Sources

• Sokolov Maxim. March 14 as a thing in itself // Civil club. February 24, 2004. *