[Op-ed by political scientists Ben Noble and Nikolai Petrov.]
As the regime becomes more entrenched, even the slightest expression of doubt about its absolute legitimacy or infallibility is treated as subversive.
Ideological compliance and fomenting moral panics have, therefore, become vehicles for bureaucratic advancement.
The state has eliminated genuine opposition figures – first those who were openly defiant, like Alexei Navalny, and then those who dissented more covertly. The state is now shifting its focus to the ‘insufficiently loyal’.
When the state defines itself as encircled by enemies, the lines between regime survival, institutional opportunism, and personal ambition, blur – with increasingly chaotic consequences.
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