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A Genealogy of Kontrol’ in Russia: From Leninist to Neoliberal Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Catherine Owen
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Abstract

This article examines the emergence of the concept obshchestvennyi kontrol’ in Russian state discourse, the practices to which it has been attached and the legitimating narrative employed to justify them. It traces the concept of kontrol’ from Leninist conceptions olrabochyi kontrol’, through post-Stalinist discourses of narodnyi kontrol ‘, demonstrating that contemporary state-driven articulations of obshchestvennyi kontrol’ exhibit a substantial amount of continuity in the conceptualisation of the role of the citizen as assisting the state in its pre-determined goals. However, in contrast to rabochyi and narodnyi kontrol’, which were legitimated by various aspects of Marxist-Leninist theory, contemporary mechanisms of obshchestvennyi kontrol’ are accompanied by a rhetoric of increasing international competitiveness, thereby allowing the Kremlin to respond to international norms of a ‘small state’, outsourcing and civic participation.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 75 , Issue 2 , Summer 2016 , pp. 331 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Inc. 2016

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References

1. Some English texts have translated obshchestvennyi kontrol’ as “public control,” but I consider this a grave mistranslation. “Control” in English means to manage, that is, to make decisions in full possession of relevant facts and to steer the course of events. Yet, as Maurice Brinton observed, kontrol’ in Russian means to monitor or check the decisions made by others; it thus implies a limitation of sovereignty not present in the English word. This distinction is very important for the relationship between state and society inculcated by the institutions that enact obshchestvennyi kontrol’. However, when citing directly from sources that have translated kontrol’ as “control,” I have remained faithful to the source from which the citation came.

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67. In 2008, obshchestvennyi kontrol’ was made the subject of a law for the first time when prison monitoring bodies, known as Public Monitoring Commissions (PMCs), were created by Law No. 76 “On the Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ of the Protection of Human Rights in Places of Detention and Assistance to Persons in Places of Detention.” However, even here the concept is not given a full definition; rather, the law states that obshches-tvennyi kontrol’ is to be performed by PMCs, and continues with an elaboration of their activities. These include inspections of detention facilities, followed by the preparation of recommendations for improvement to the facility authorities, the handling of complaints by inmates and helping prison authorities ensure that prisoners’ rights are observed. In short, it is the combination of assistance and scrutiny that characterises public chambers. Furthermore, the Federal Public Chamber conducts the PMC application process and regional chambers often provide training sessions and administrative support. See Catherine Owen, “Consentful Contention in a Corporate State: Human Rights Activists and Public Monitoring Commissions in Russia,” East European Politics, 31: 3,2015.

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99. Putin, “Rossiia sosredotachivaetsia.”

100. Putin, “Demokratiia i kachestvo gosudarstva.”

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