CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Antonova, Viktoriia |
|---|---|
| Title | New Forms of "Soft Repression" in Russian Regions: the Case of Article 282 |
| Summary | What can subnational units tell us about the dynamics of repression? In this thesis, I argue that the scholarship on repression has to look at the variation of the means of repression on the subnational level, especially in the case of low-scale, or “soft” repression. Based on the case of the implementation of Article 282 of the Criminal Code in 80 Russian regions, the study aims at defining the key regional factors which determine the differences in how frequent the Article was used in these subnational units. Firstly, I expect that regions with higher degrees of social dissent have more intensive use of repression. This claim is consistent with the existing body of research on the relationship between protests and state repression. Secondly, I propose that the stronger the subnational political machines are, the less repression occurs in the regions. This statement is supported by the literature on subnational authoritarianism and studies of political machines on the local level. Lastly, my quantitative analysis attempts to find how local political regimes influence the frequency of repression implementation. The last hypothesis is supported by recent studies on the diffusion of repression. Unfortunately, the results of the quantitative analysis provide either no or little support for the hypotheses. However, the case studies of Russian regions demonstrate some interesting aspect of regional politics which was not captured by the indicators in the regression analysis. Thus, it leaves prospect for further studies of various forms of repression on the subnational level. |
| Supervisor | Melnykovska Inna |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/antonova_viktoriia.pdf |
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