MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Russian political scientists Oleg Matveichev, Pavel Danilin and Alexei Martynov presented their report entitled Putin’s Mission - The Results of Vladimir Putin’s Twenty-Year Rule at a TASS news conference on Thursday. In their survey the analysts described the Russian president’s mission and formulated ten lessons for political leaders of the future.
"Putin’s mission, formulated in just one sentence, may sound like ‘Make Russia great again!’ His years-long work at the highest posts of state power in the country was geared to achieving this," the report says.
According to the authors of the survey "each of the president’s steps was based on his philosophy of political leadership, enabling him to confidently respond to ever new challenges and act effectively amid constantly changing conditions."
"In making this report we repeatedly turned to this or that element of his [Putin’s] philosophy. Put together in a single narrative, they can serve as a precious lesson for the political leaders of the future," the report says.
President’s lessons
The authors said that Putin’s lesson number one is to follow "the moderate path."
"Never try to ram through. Overpower crude force with soft power, avoid using direct resistance to aggression, use the enemy’s power to one’s advantage, make concessions for the sake of future victory. Russia’s foreign policy in 2000-2003 was carried out in strict compliance with these principles. Putin easily found a common language with the leaders of the West, without seeking a leading place for Russia in the world for the time being," the authors of the report say.
Lessons two and three in the report mention the president’s ability to "interchangeably use the intensification of efforts and relaxation and pauses," as well as the custom of "following the natural course of life."
"Putin used the pendulum principle in the domestic policy, characterized by the continued change of periods of strict administrative control and the easing of screws… It is the authorities’ business to maintain the internal balance in the country, considered as a complex system, to neutralize the factors that upset the balance, and to timely create the required counterbalances in response to the changing agenda. The homeostatic type of governance must prevail over planning," the report says.
The political scientists see Putin’s fourth and fifth lessons in his ability to "avoid creating hypothetical doctrines" and to "possess information."
"Ideology is merely an instrument. The state needs both right-and left-wingers and the centrist forces. As long as they remain in a condition of a lively discussion or active confrontation, they keep the system in a dynamic balance and prevent society from sliding into one of the extremes," the analysts say.
Among other lessons, the political scientists say, are the president’s ability "to have a reserve for a rainy day," "to keep problems in the background," "to keep outsiders ignorant of his plans," "to delegate one’s tasks to the enemies" and "to work for strategic aims."
Results of work
The experts point out that Putin invariably translated all these principles into reality throughout his activity at the highest posts in the country.
"Without creating large-scale ideological constructs or formulating abstract national ideas which one may easily become a hostage of (all most terrible things had been done for the sake of this or that great idea), he kept doing his job without unbracing for a second," the authors of the report said.
In their opinion, many results of the president’s activity became evident at once, such as "people’s growing wealth, restoration of production, major decline in the consumption of alcohol, greater life expectancy, revival of patriotism, successes of Russian school and university students at international Olympiads and growing military potential."