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.”...
... 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 ...
Political parties are alleged to provide their electorates with choice. Cynics might object that, while elections give an electorate the feeling that they have choice, this is only an illusion. Soviet propagandists used to like to point out that the choice is only between Rockefeller millionaires and Kennedy millionaires, that is, among factions of the ruling elite.
What parties and candidates argue about during election campaigns is always "small stuff." Fundamental questions like the...
... 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...
... There is no reason why a Russian version of liberal democracy should not eventually emerge, but this cannot happen overnight. Political forces have been crystallizing, 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 leadership of the Russian state is fully aware of this, and has been striving to manage this process of gradual decompression.
The new Putin, unlike the earlier Putin,...
