... assumption. When I ask Russians if they see an alternative, they usually can say what they don't like about Putin. But I have I have yet to hear anyone present a credible alternative.
Mikhail Gorbachev, reflecting the view of a large part of the Russian public, once said that Putin literally saved Russia. Yet the difficulty of imaging a country after the departure of an extraordinary leader is not unique to Russia under Putin. Think of the French trying to imagine France after de Gaulle? What ...
... righting present wrongs, it was better to imagine a virtuous past even where none truly existed (Smith, 2008: 81).
European elites, derived from both the Feudal aristocracy and from the rising elites of trade and commerce started out adamantly opposed to democracy. They feared and resisted extension of the franchise, and democratization more generally. Most of the Framers of the American Constitution were suspicious of democracy. The word "democracy" does not appear at all in either the Declaration ...
Russia's leaders have long recognized a need for competitive politics. They tried twice, in 1995 and in 2006, to create a two-party system ... ... the leaderships of several East European Communist regimes negotiated transition to democracy with their oppositions. In a recent interview, the leader of the Solidarity... ... real public issues have begun to capture the attention of significant parts of the Russian public, credible leaders have started to appear on the political scene. The...
