Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform / Edition 1

by Michael McFaul PhD, Nikolay Petrov, Andrei Ryabov PH.D.

Overview

For hundreds of years, dictators have ruled Russia. Do they still? In the late 1980s, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev launched a series of political reforms that eventually allowed for competitive elections, the emergence of an independent press, the formation of political parties, and the sprouting of civil society. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, these proto-democratic institutions endured in an independent Russia. But did the processes unleashed by Gorbachev and continued under Russian President Boris Yeltsin lead eventually to liberal democracy in Russia? If not, what kind of political regime did take hold in post-Soviet Russia? And how has Vladimir Putin's rise to power influenced the course of democratic consolidation or the lack thereof? Between Dictatorship and Democracy seeks to give a comprehensive answer to these fundamental questions about the nature of Russian politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870032066
Publisher:	Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Publication date:	03/23/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.08(d)

About the Author

Michael McFaul is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment, the Peter and Helen Bing senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and an associate professor of political science at Stanford University. A prolific author, he is one of the world's leading specialists on democracy development in the former Soviet states. Nikolay Petrov is a scholar-in-residence and chairs the Carnegie Moscow Center's Society and Regions Program.He is also a senior research associate with the Institute of Geography at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Andrei Ryabov is cochair of the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	vii
	Preface	ix
	Acknowledgments	xi
	Abbreviations and Acronyms	xii
1.	Introduction	1
2.	Elections	23
3.	The Constitution	56
4.	Legislative-Executive Relations	83
5.	Political Parties	105
6.	Civil Society	135
7.	The Mass Media	174
8.	The Rule of Law	195
9.	Federalism	213
10.	Regional Models of Democratic Development	239
11.	Public Attitudes About Democracy	268
12.	Postscript: The 2003 Parliamentary Elections and the Future of Russian Democracy	292
	Notes	299
	Index	343
	About the Authors	363
	The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace	365

What People are Saying About This

Yegor Gaidar

A thoroughly comprehensive book on one of the most important questions facing Russia today. The future of Russia's democracy may be the last lingering question from the revolutionary process launched almost two decades ago. To understand why Russia's political transition has been so long and protracted, there is no better place to start than BETWEEN DICTATORSHIP AND DEMOCRACY.
—Director of the Institute for the Economy in Transition and former Prime Minister of Russia, 1991-92

Stephen Sestanovich

There are simply no better scholars of Russian democracy writing today than Michael McFaul, Nikolai Petrov, and Andrei Ryabov. Did the poet say you can’t understand Russia by reason alone? Their cool and rigorous analyses will convince you otherwise.
—Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador at Large for the New Independent States

Timothy J. Colton

Many thought a decade ago that Russia had irreversibly crossed the boundary separating dictatorship from democracy. We now see discouraging evidence of an authoritarian revival that places Russia back in the gray zone between regimes. This collection of empirically rich and theoretically informed essays by Russian and American specialists shows why the backsliding has occurred, with what results, and with what implications for the future.
—Director of Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

Stephen Hanson

A comprehensive, rich, and insightful overview of the major trends in Russian democratization since the Gorbachev era . . . . The fact that the authors are among the best-known Western and Russian experts on the subject—and, in some cases, also among the key individuals involved in crafting Russia’s democratic institutions—will surely guarantee the book a wide audience.
—University of Washington

Editorial Reviews

The discussion throughout is well informed and judicious. If the conclusions are not more clear cut, it is because the situation of contemporary Russia itself is contradictory and inconclusive.
— The New York Times

Richard Pipes

Most agree that at the moment, Russia is neither fish nor fowl, neither a democracy nor a dictatorship. The real question is whether it is frozen in position or still in motion (and if in motion, moving in which direction), and one will not find a better attempt at beginning to formulate an answer than this book. The authors break the topic down into its crucial constituent parts: elections, the constitution, legislative-executive relations, political parties, civil society, the mass media, the rule of law, federalism, etc. Each is then outlined in simple, uncluttered fashion and assessed economically and expertly. Looking across these components, it appears that progress of sorts has been made in virtually every area, but not enough to overcome the remaining obstacles or challenge the rollback that has occurred under Vladimir Putin. The authors seem to feel that Russia cannot remain as it is, and, although current trends are discouraging, hope rests on the fact that little is yet consolidated and the rudiments of something better exist.

Foreign Affairs

"This book is a thought-provoking insight into contemporary Russian politics." —Matthew Alan Hill, INCORE, University of Ulster, The Ethnic Conflict Research Digest, 3/1/2006

"Many thought a decade ago that Russia had irreversibly crossed the boundary separating dictatorship from democracy. We now see discouraging evidence of an authoritarian revival that places Russia back in the gray zone between regimes. This collection of empirically rich and theoretically informed essays by Russian and American specialists shows why the backsliding has occurred, with what results, and with what implications for the future." —Timothy J. Colton, Director of Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, 3/1/2004

"A thoroughly comprehensive book on one of the most important questions facing Russia today. The future of Russia's democracy may be the last lingering question from the revolutionary process launched almost two decades ago. To understand why Russia's political transition has been so long and protracted, there is no better place to start than Between Dictatorship and Democracy." —Yegor Gaidar, Director of the Institute for the Economy in Transition and former Prime Minister of Russia, 1991-92, 3/1/2004

"A comprehensive, rich, and insightful overview of the major trends in Russian democratization since the Gorbachev era.... The fact that the authors are among the best-known Western and Russian experts on the subject —and, in some cases, also among the key individuals involved in crafting Russia's democratic institutions —will surely guarantee the book a wide audience.
" —Stephen Hanson, University of Washington

"There are simply no better scholars of Russian democracy writing today than Michael McFaul, Nikolai Petrov, and Andrei Ryabov. Did the poet say you can't understand Russia by reason alone? Their cool and rigorous analyses will convince you otherwise." —Stephen Sestanovich, Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador at Large for the New Independent States, 3/1/2004

From the Publisher