Synopses & Reviews
It has become conventional wisdom that Russia is in the midst of a well-entrenched and lengthy retreat from democracy -- a reaction to the turbulence of the 1990s and the hardships of the economic decline that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet public opinion surveys suggest widespread support in Russian society for stronger democratic institutions and dissatisfaction with the degree of democracy provided by Russia's current political institutions. In Russia's Road to Deeper Democracy, Tom Bjorkman argues that the recent pattern of retreat from democratic values reflects the self-interest of a small segment of Russia's elite that stands to lose from vigorous pluralism and stronger democratic institutions whose outcomes they cannot control. While acknowledging that Russian citizens must determine their own path to deeper democracy, Bjorkman insists that the United States can help create forward movement by drawing Russia into Western institutions and insisting that Russia's leaders adhere to common standards of democratic practice. By doing so, Bjorkman argues, the United States. can strengthen the hand of those elements within the elite who promote policies that would move Russia toward greater democracy.
Synopsis
It has become conventional wisdom that Russia is in the midst of a well-entrenched and lengthy retreat from democracy. This book argues that the recent pattern of retreat from democratic values reflects the self-interest of a small segment of Russia's elite rather than Russian society in general and that the United States can play in a role in promoting policies to move Russia toward greater democracy.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-133) and index.
Synopsis
Russia has embarked on a slow but steady path of foreign policy alignment with the West. President Vladimir Putins market-oriented economic policies and structural reforms have added momentum. But in the long run, the decisive factor in Russias relationship with the West will be the nature of the political order it builds on the ruins of communism. There is a broad consensus among Western observers that Russias effort to build Western-style democratic institutions in the eleven years since the Soviet collapse has stalled somewhere between democracy as understood in the West and the highly authoritarian order Russia inherited from the USSR. Some would say that Russia is doomed by its history and political culture to a lengthy period of semi-authoritarianism. In Russias Road to Deeper Democracy, Tom Bjorkman presents evidence that this assessment is too pessimistic and underestimates the forces for political change that lie beneath the surface of what seems to be an era of political somnolence. Bjorkman argues that it is not the weight of history or the antidemocratic attitudes of the Russian population that restrain Russia from making progress toward stronger democratic institutions but specific leadership policies and elements of Russias political elite who have a self-interest in maintaining the status quo. Putin and other senior leaders support for proposals for democratic change now under discussion in Russia can create the kind of competitive political marketplace that the country needs to avoid political stagnation and begin to build the strong and prosperous state that all Russians want. America exerts a large influence on Russias debate about its political future: bydemonstrating that Russias progress toward a stronger democratic order matters to the United States and by treating Russia as a part of the West, the United States can buttress internal forces pushing for a deeper Russian democracy.