The Presidentialisation of Government Accountability in Russia: Crisis or Transformation of Democracy?

Abstract

Using the methodological framework set out in Chapter 5, this chapter assesses the Russian government accountability in the aftermath of media allegations. The chapter finds that the Russian president steers the accountability process, whenever government officials are criticised in the media. The empirical findings unravel the concrete ways in which the president interferes with post-scandals accountability, such as the president making decisions whether to sanction alleged incumbents on the basis of the president’s approval ratings and the president having a disproportionately big influence in producing sanctions in comparison with investigations conducted by the legislature and the courts. Furthermore, the chapter argues that the process of presidentialisation goes hand in hand with the process of personalisation of accusations, personalisation of sanctions and the personalisation of the prosecutorial office. The results constitute good indicators for gauging the tipping point when a presidential regime becomes super-presidential, thus assessing the state of democracy through the lens of accountability.