Timothy Frye: By trying to silence protesters, Vladimir Putin is falling into a repression trap
Timothy Frye, the Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy, published analysis in the Washington Post.
As the Russian president becomes less popular, he’s turning to blunt coercion
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime has started to rely more on repression as a central tool, culminating in the arrest of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny and Saturday’s crackdown on protesters. It’s not unusual for autocratic regimes to coerce protesters, arrest political opponents and harass potential critics.
However, repression has its downside: It helps keep incumbents in power but may prevent them from addressing the deep-seated problems that drive protests and opposition in the first place. The more they rely on coercion, the more they neglect the problems generating protest — such as declining living standards, corruption and a lack of accountability — and spark further opposition, creating a “repression trap” for the regime. Here is why Russia may be falling into this trap, damaging the regime’s long-term stability.