Legislative Rent Seeking and Illiberal Legislation in the Russian State Duma, 2011-2021

• In Event: Shaping Minds, Securing Power: State-Directed Education and Cultural Hegemony in Eurasia

Abstract

This paper examines the political economy of the production of illiberal bills in the Russian State Duma. Since 2011 MPs have passed a staggering number of illiberal bills in various policy areas from education to constitutional arrangements at an astonishing speed that undermine the spirit of the Russian Constitution. This development has been striking but our understanding of it remains vague. Using a mixed methods approach of quantitative and qualitative analyses, I establish that legislator-sponsored bills form parts of a rent-seeking strategy that leads to career advancement and other spoils. The findings have implications for the understanding of the Russian State Duma as a complex ecosystem of contesting interests and how illiberalism works in practice.

Author

• Daniella Slabinski, U of Oslo (Norway)