Vladimir Putin, Part Two
Everyone agrees that Vladimir Putin intends to hold on to power in Russia when his presidential term expires. What matters now is whether he will seek to institutionalize his power by building a dominant political party, like Japan's Liberal Democrats, or exercise it personally by changing the rules of the game.
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LONDON -- Opinions about Vladimir Putin run the gamut. In the West, he is regarded as an “authoritarian,” an “autocrat,” even as a “dictator” while in Russia a huge majority regard him as the most “democratic” of leaders, on the grounds that he has done more than his predecessors to improve the lot of ordinary people. But there is one point on which both camps agree: Putin intends to remain in power indefinitely.