Daniela Slabinski

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Daniela Slabinski: “Transforming Russia from within: Illiberal legislation and silovik coalition-building in the Russian State Duma, 2011-2021”

Speaker

Daniella Slabinski is a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages. Her doctoral research project explores the political economy of the Russian State Duma and the production of illiberal legislation during the period of 2011-2021. Slabinski holds an MA in Russian Area Studies at the University of Oslo and prior to her doctoral research she worked as a research assistant at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and as a project coordinator at the Nature and Youth “Russia Project” supporting young eco-activists in the Barents Region.

Abstract

For the last decade, the Russian State Duma has arguably become a site where production of illiberal ideology and rent seeking intersect which has resulted in severe consequences for domestic and global politics. Nevertheless, knowledge of the lawmakers and the various power coalitions that they form to achieve their goals is limited. In this paper I address this lacuna by focusing on the role of the siloviki – individuals with career experience in the military, intelligence and law enforcement apparatus – in the State Duma and ask: what coalitions do silovik representatives form when passing illiberal legislation? Drawing on a unique set of illiberal bills sponsored by silovik-MPs during the 6th (2011 – 2016) and 7th (2016 – 2021) convocations, I use social network analysis to test for Brian D. Taylor’s typology of silovik formations (clan, corporate and cohort) on a unique dataset of illiberal legislation passed by silovik-MPs during the 6th (2011 – 2016) and 7th (2016 – 2021) Duma convocations. The data illustrates that neither ideology nor institutional belonging (corporate and party affiliation) among silovik-MPs are decisive factors during coalition-building when passing illiberal bills. Instead, there is a distinctively growing trend in favor of grouping into informal networks in which silovik-MPs act as legislative patrons.

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