China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are putting strongman politics back on the map
Chinese lawmakers vote unanimously to keep Xi in power, while Putin looks to be a shoo-in for a fourth term
Strongman politics is back. And for anyone who thought otherwise, a quick peruse of this weekend’s headlines should help set them straight.
On Saturday in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping received a thunderous ovation at the Great Hall of the People as he was sworn in for a second term, just minutes after receiving a unanimous mandate to do so and less than a week after lawmakers voted to revise the constitution and remove the two-term limit.
On Sunday in Moscow, Vladimir Putin will seek to become Russian president for the fourth time, and an emphatic victory looks on the cards.
While the proceedings in China and Russia might not pass muster by Western definitions of free elections, the liberal euphoria that swept across the world following the collapse of the Soviet Union is now well and truly in retreat. History did not end as Francis Fukuyama predicted. Neo-authoritarianism is on the march once more.
Ironically, it was the collapse of the Soviet Union almost 30 years ago that provided the impetus for the resurgence of the strongman leader.
Putin has made it clear what he thinks. “Anyone who does not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union has no heart. And anyone who wants to see it recreated in its former-shape has no brain”, goes his favourite saying.
