The conflict that will dominate Putin’s fourth term is not between the doves and hawks, but between two economic schools: the industrialists, who believe the economy is made up of manufacturing machines, and the liberals, who are convinced that it consists of money. No technocrat will be able to form an efficient team from people who have fundamentally different ideas of what the economy actually is.
There was never any doubt that Vladimir Putin would more than comfortably win Russia’s presidential election on March 18. The interesting part begins now that the election is over. Just as in 2012, Putin will have to pay off the pre-election promissory notes, get enemies to make peace, and bring together that which can never be united.
