Putin versus Civil Society: The Long Struggle for Freedom in relation to The Island of Russia

The protest in Russia after the 2012 election corruption led to calls for political participation and transparency. The younger middle class, affected by low income, distrusts the political system and is less likely to engage in politics until their needs are met. This lack of legitimacy decreases loyalty to the Kremlin and hinders Russia's potential to become a superpower. The article and podcast both emphasize the importance of middle class support for true modernization and discuss other factors like GDP and military power. Loyalty from the middle class is crucial for Russia to achieve its superpower aspirations. Hello everyone. The link I was able to make between the article and the protest starts with the sediment from Leon Aron's discussion on the political protest following the obvious corruption of the 2012 election. The aftermath saw many protesters calling for more political participation and political transparency for the Kremlin elites. These social movements are highlighted by the middle class, in which around the time consists of a bigger and younger generation of Russian citizens who are affected by Russia's low income. This younger emerging middle class in Russia has proven to become distrusted in the Russian political system because of low income and become adverts in participating in the political process. This is what Leon Aron calls the moral impartiality of dignity in democratic systems, where the call for a better society doesn't end for the call of better income, but for more standard middle class concerns, like health care, education, etc. Until these desires are met for the middle class, the less they are going to want to engage in political life. This is bad for the Kremlin because it shows a lack of legitimacy. This lack decreases the loyalty of the people and when the majority of mass support is protesting instead of working for the country, this has proven that Russia is nowhere close to becoming a superpower. This was echoed in this week's article, where the question was asked, does Russia have the capability to become a superpower in the 21st century? And from author Nikolai Savinsky's point of view, this will not be achievable without mass immigration, strong pro-Nazi policy, and forced modernization. Modernization being the biggest takeaway, as the podcast also mentions true modernization cannot be achievable without the middle class support in which Russia has been actively decreasing over the years. The article also discusses other ways in which Russia may have the capabilities of becoming a superpower, like GDP and military power, in which the podcast was able to describe as a decreasing source, in which Russia's large reliance on natural gas has begun to diminish, and the Ukrainian war has mass support watching and decreasing loyalty in the Kremlin. This is the sentiment of both the article and the podcast, in which loyalty of the middle class is so important, because without it, Russia cannot become the great superpower it wants to be.