Russia Transformed: Developing Popular Support for a New Regime
Cambridge University Press, 11/23/2006
EAN 9780521692410, ISBN10: 0521692415
Paperback, 238 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm
Language: English
Since the fall of communism Russia has undergone a treble transformation of its political, social and economic system. The government is an autocracy in which the Kremlin manages elections and administers the law to suit its own ends. It does not provide the democracy that most citizens desire. Given a contradiction between what Russians want and what they get, do they support their government and, if so, why? Using the New Russia Barometer - a unique set of public opinion surveys from 1992 to 2005 - this book shows that it is the passage of time that has been most important in developing support for the new regime. Although there remains great dissatisfaction with the regime's corruption, it has become accepted as a lesser evil to alternatives. The government appears stable today, but will be challenged by constitutional term limits forcing President Putin to leave office in 2008.
Introduction
transformation and its aftermath
1. Time matters
the dynamics of regime support
2. The supply of regimes
democratic and autocratic
3. A changing supply of Russian regimes
4. Uncertainties of transformation
a view from the bottom
5. Changing levels of regime support
6. Social structure and the evaluation of regimes
7. Influence of political performance and values
8. Finding the economic influences that matter
9. The impact of the passage of time
10. What could challenge the new equilibrium?
Appendix A. New Russia Barometer samples
Appendix B. Coding of variables.
'Few, if any, students of post-Soviet Russia have a greater experience and skill in telling with numbers the story of the continuing giant transformation than Richard Rose, William Mishler and Neil Munro. Their research is both scrupulous and insightful.' Leon Aron, Director of Russian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Washington DC and author of Yeltsin: A Revolutionary Life (2000)