ABSTRACT
The study of political opposition in authoritarian regimes has traditionally focused on pro-democracy movements. The formation of such movements and their attempts to come to power, sometimes through the revolutionary overthrow of the regime, has been extensively covered in the political science literature. This chapter provides an analysis of systemic opposition in Russia and its regions. The main aim of the chapter is to examine the opposition from a new perspective which sees it not as an alternative to, but as an integral part of, the system and even as a support element of the regime. In terms of ideology, almost any opposition can be pretty anti-systemic; in other words, ideological division is not a valid reason to differentiate the systemic opposition from the non-systemic opposition. The systemic opposition, in contrast to the non-systemic opposition, is accommodated within the existing system.
