The Code of Putinism 

Russian domestic and foreign policy depends to a substantial degree on the decisions of Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.  How does the Putin team see the world, and how does that affect their choices?  Rather than treating Putin as either a pragmatist or an ideologue, I argue that Putinism is best thought of as a “code.”  This code or mentality is a set of ideas, emotions, and habits shared by Putin and the core members of the political elite.  This talk analyzes the sources and content of this code of Putinism, and demonstrates how the code influences the regime’s approach to politics, economics, and foreign policy.

Brian Taylor is Professor of Political Science in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. His research focuses on Russian politics and the Russian state, including the role of state coercive organizations, such as the military and the police, in domestic politics.  He is currently writing a book on Putinism.  Taylor is the author of State Building in Putin’s Russia: Policing and Coercion after Communism (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and Politics and the Russian Army: Civil-Military Relations, 1689-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2003). His work has appeared in Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Problems of Post-Communism, Europe-Asia Studies, Post-Soviet Affairs, International Studies Review, Survival, Millennium and Journal of Cold War Studies. He received his B.A. from the University of Iowa, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.