Translated material
Makhachkala will elect a mayor
In Makhachkala, almost everyone is talking about the mayor’s arrest yesterday, but almost no one is talking about the future mayor. It is generally difficult for Dagestanis to think about the future, but I will try.
Citizens or population
So, after on Monday all kinds of organizations begin to say goodbye to the relatives and associates of the former mayor, the people will still whisper and applaud, but a little later they will ask the question: “Who is our next prince?”
And then you realize that the city is in such a unique state that can be compared, probably, with the sudden death of a long-ruling monarch and the same quick reprisal against his clan in some African “republic.”
In a real city, citizens live, that is, people who are united by common concerns and who are connected with the leadership of the city and among themselves with rights and responsibilities. And, of course, the city has its own special jurisdiction of urban written and unwritten rules, aimed not at mutual oppression, but at cohabitation.
Based on this descriptive concept of “city,” one can understand that Makhachkala is not a city: there are no townspeople here, there is an autonomous population. And instead of city rules there are corruption agreements. Makhachkala has become a gathering place for migrants from villages, who even continue to maintain relationships with each other and maintain “rural diasporas.”
Therefore, the population of Makhachkala will not put forward their demands to the authorities about the criteria for the new leadership. The population will not even wait, but will simply watch as the “elite” begins to divide the city’s resources, who will convince the population that in 15 years they have forgotten how to choose their own mayor. And they will be appointed a mayor.
Mayor's criteria
It is clear that the authorities will not allow a city like Makhachkala, which has capital status, to choose a mayor by itself, and a strategy should already be built on what criteria to select a mayor.
In the first case, the authorities can simply leave everything as it is, and give this whole colossus with the shadow economy to their own people.
The second way is destruction and cleansing of the old elite. This is when investigative teams and auditors are working, and there are hundreds of lawsuits in the courts to cancel the decisions of the previous leadership, and the Dagestani diaspora is growing in Baku.
When selecting a city leader, the authorities can follow the path of consultations with the population and city elites, or they can appoint, without consulting anyone, a temporary person whose task is to destroy everything old.
Another criterion is the attitude of the authorities towards their own image. The authorities don't care about their reputation or not.
If the federal authorities do not want to carry out any changes in the city, they will appoint a person loyal to both the authorities and the local elite.
Another important criterion is nationality.
The criterion of professionalism, alas, is not so often rated first.
And finally, the criterion of strength. The authorities want to see a person who will manage and collect taxes. And this is impossible without power or authority. Unless you go down the path of agreements with the population.
Possible contenders
If the authorities want to preserve the city elite and the established city management infrastructure and install a Dargin, then perhaps the best candidate for the post of mayor would be Magomedov Magomedsalam. Loyal to the authorities, an experienced leader, not a reformer, able to preserve agreements, he practically grew up in Makhachkala. But then the population will think that the special operation that took place on Saturday is the result of “internal Dargin squabbles” or compensation for the selected place of the head of Dagestan.
If the authorities don’t give a damn about what the population thinks, or the authorities have other plans for Ramazan Gadzhimuradovich besides the presidency, the authorities want to deal with the city managers of the old draft, then the acting son-in-law, Magomed Musaev, can be appointed mayor. A good businessman with experience as a manager, capable of talking “on an equal footing” with the Dagestan elites.
Perhaps they will even persuade Senator Ilyas Umakhanov, a Darginian who enjoys political support, respect from the intelligentsia, and understands economics, to become mayor. True, it has a big disadvantage - there is no blood on the hands and they are not particularly afraid of him.
They also remember Deputy Prime Minister Rizvan Gazimagomedov, a recognized professional in the field of housing and communal services and construction, who is not involved in politics, but quietly does his job. But I’m afraid that he will be marked for the fact that he started under the leadership of the previous mayor. Although everything is possible. He may simply become a compromise figure.
But, of course, one can guess and assume this way to plus infinity.
And, by the way, we must not forget that the former city elite will not give up their positions so easily, which they discussed at a Sunday meeting in the city administration.
About the new requirements
The population does not have demands on the authorities; the citizens have demands. But I would really like the residents of Makhachkala to come forward with their demands and proposals right now. No matter who comes to power in the city, no matter how best these people are and no matter how hard they try to help the residents, if these residents are deaf and silent, it will be difficult to help the city.
Instead of an ending
Ironically, on Saturday I had the honor of walking along the main square of Makhachkala past special forces on armored vehicles with the organizers of the Dagestan Civil University and the deputy director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences Evgeniy Gontmakher (co-author of that very “Medvedev” modernization), with whom we are like at PSU Once we talked about trusting the authorities to the people to choose their own destiny.
If someone says that it is impossible to negotiate with the population, he will be right, you can negotiate with the townspeople. But if the government does not first start talking to the population as citizens, then the citizens may not appear.
Makhachkala is a truly unique city. And rich. If the population trusts the city leadership, they will probably legalize most of their business and pay taxes. If not, then the authorities will have to take away taxes and payments. Then those who helped the previous mayor will be needed.
Therefore, the authorities now have a unique chance to lose the respect they earned with their interesting force operation on Saturday.