Legitimacy
Well what exactly is legitimacy in government?
Legitimacy is the foundation for a successful political process, and is absolutely necessary for any country to function properly. Legitimacy is determined by the faith the government's citizens have in its reign. For example, If Russian citizens believe they ought to follow the laws of Russia even without Putin putting a gun to their puny heads, then there is high legitimacy for their Russian government. Putin wins and in terms of legitimacy, he is leading effectively. Therefore all is well in the land of Prime Minister Putin. However this example at the end of the day is still hypothetical.
In reality...
"And you thought I was elected President..."
Overall, the state of the land of Putin's rule is good. Thus, Russia is enjoying high legitimacy as of now since Putin's reign has been synonymous with stability and growth. It has been clear that the public does not care enough to voice concern over illegitimacy and how he manages to stay in office for so long.
While under Putin's leadership, Russia has enjoyed a long period of economic prosperity. Poverty was cut down by more than half and the real GDP is still rapidly rising. Therefore Russians have been experiencing better lives as is usually the case during better economic times. No longer does the average person have to worry about starvation. Instead with such economic growth, the rich get wealthier, the middle class increases and even the poorest folks are able to afford proper housing. With a 7% annual rate of growth, all of this is to be expected.
Putin has also launched several improvements in terms of government services. With the launch of the National Priority Projects, Russia has seen agriculture, housing, health care and education standards go up with the extra money Russian government has pocketed. As Jonathan Steele explains "Enough has gone into modernising schools and hospitals so that people notice a difference. Overall living standards are up."
"This isn't even my best yacht!"
Participants, Subjects, Parochial
It is guaranteed that in Russia, citizens remain political participants. There are open elections every 6 years for a president and citizens get one vote each. A similar process also occurs when the legislative election occurs, where people vote for certain parties for a set number of 450 open seats. Although after voting, the Russian citizen's influence become largely unimportant. Like many nations, Russia does not allow its citizens to directly introduce legislation, rather that job is done for them by officials. At most, Russians can protest and show disapproval to try influence legislation. One recent example are the “Pussy Riot” members that were recently jailed for being offensive, though many say they were jailed for political reasons.
"YEAH! FEMINISM! YEAH!"
Subjects in Russia include citizens that do not vote in any election. Of the hundreds of millions of voters, roughly 40% of them did not vote in either of the elections. There are many more Russian citizens that are not registered that are unaccounted for that may increase the percent of non-voters. Thus these people seem to have no concern for politics nor desire to participate in it.
Parochials in Russia are usually those that do not meet basic voting requirements or just live in extremely rural areas. As Russia is the largest and also on one of the longest countries in the world, Russians can live very far away from each other. This distance isolates rural areas like small towns closer to the middle east. There are most likely no large businesses there or much of anything that needs regulating, thus its only natural politics do not affect their lives much.
Consensual or Confliction Political Culture (homogenous, heterogeneous)
With such diversity in Russia, there exists a Conflictual Political Culture.
As a result of the huge size of the Russia, huge numbers of people live spread out from each other all over Russia. Millions of people live in different climates and terrain, so their lifestyles can differ from each other heavily. Some regions could have a strong culture built up around fish while others would be about wood. The sheer scale of diversity Russia has can be seen through the large number of subregions within Russia.
As a result of the huge size of the Russia, huge numbers of people live spread out from each other all over Russia. Millions of people live in different climates and terrain, so their lifestyles can differ from each other heavily. Some regions could have a strong culture built up around fish while others would be about wood. The sheer scale of diversity Russia has can be seen through the large number of subregions within Russia.
With so many regions of different cultural backgrounds, Russian values will most likely differ from place to place. Thus a conflictual political culture exists as a result of the diversity as there is no exactly defined background that all Russians share.
This diversity is also expressed through the establishment of many political parties for presidential candidates and legislative elections. Instead of just one or two parties, there are a multitudes of parties that nominate presidential candidates and fight for seats in the legislative branch. Among of these include the Communist party and the Just Russia party (although there are over 25 more registered political parties). Each one of these parties have very different beliefs from one another, as some range from being communist to being liberal in their thinking.
This diversity is also expressed through the establishment of many political parties for presidential candidates and legislative elections. Instead of just one or two parties, there are a multitudes of parties that nominate presidential candidates and fight for seats in the legislative branch. Among of these include the Communist party and the Just Russia party (although there are over 25 more registered political parties). Each one of these parties have very different beliefs from one another, as some range from being communist to being liberal in their thinking.
What is the Political Culture?
Though the exact political culture is debatable, the political culture of Russia is one that favors strong, autocratic rule. This comes as a small surprise, as Russia has a history of strong government figures. For a long time, Tsars held most of the power and did much of the deciding for all of Russia. Even when the system underwent a change as the communist Russia, power was still retained in government. Although the Soviet Union was a step away from a extremely centralized government, citizens never had to make as many political choices a normal American would. It was always done for them, as that was a key component of the communist ideal (i.e wages). Relatively speaking, it was only recently did Russia begin transitioning into a democracy. Even then, Russia is still trying to establish a government that is modern and democratic.
Like Americans, Russians are also very patriotic of their country. With a strong cultural background that boasted national pride during the Soviet Union, Russians have many patriotic songs and poems. The songs especially emphasize the patriotism and hardiness of Russians. In some ways, this hardiness becomes the identity of the Russian people. This may contribute to the reason why so many russians are able to live in conditions without much complaint.
Like Americans, Russians are also very patriotic of their country. With a strong cultural background that boasted national pride during the Soviet Union, Russians have many patriotic songs and poems. The songs especially emphasize the patriotism and hardiness of Russians. In some ways, this hardiness becomes the identity of the Russian people. This may contribute to the reason why so many russians are able to live in conditions without much complaint.
"I am an ex KGB and president, now watch me kill 500 bears with one bullet."
Even years after Russia became "democratized", most of the government process is done without the need for citizen input. Citizens only get to vote for some government officials, such as the president and members of the state Duma. The Federal Council and other officials are solely elected by the government. Once in place, members of these groups create policy without much action from citizens. Even if citizens did want action, there would be no way for Russians to impeach a president or have a recall election. At most, they can demonstrate the need for change through protest, but those are usually swiftly squashed by Russian police.