In totalitarian countries . .
The government tortures, kills and suppresses unions and the press.
Whereas in authoritarian countries . .
These functions are left to the private sector.
Jules Feiffer cartoon on statement by former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jean Kirkpatrick
In order to judge whether there has been a “rollback of democracy” in Russia, we need to be clear about what is meant by the democratic state of affairs believed to exist before democracy was “rolled back.”...
... essential for success.
Putin began his third term as President of Russia in 2012. Yet, he did not just coast back into the Presidency. Many people in Russia, including much of the elite, were unhappy about his decision to return to the Presidency, and the Russian public is no longer disposed to curl up and play dead, no matter what Putin does. Moreover, for the first time in the history of post-Soviet Russia, there is a significant number of high-profile individuals, publically taking divergent stances ...
If I were a Russian citizen, I would be somewhat troubled by recent Russian legislation requiring foreign-funded Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to register as foreign agents. However, as a social scientist I see the Universe unfolding as it should in Russia.
The widespread view that civil society is being rolled back rests on a mistaken assumption that civil society can be rolled back by actions of governments. On the contrary civil society is autonomous, by definition. It has a life of...