Democracy in a Russian Mirror [Hardcover]

This book examines the current state of Russia and the prospects for democracy.This book examines the current state and the prospects for democracy in Russia in the light of the experience of existing democracies. Posing several challenges to our understanding of democracy, thirteen contributors argue some of the central questions vital to understanding the conditions of emergence and survival of successful democracies.This book examines the current state and the prospects for democracy in Russia in the light of the experience of existing democracies. Posing several challenges to our understanding of democracy, thirteen contributors argue some of the central questions vital to understanding the conditions of emergence and survival of successful democracies.What can we learn about democracy from the experience of post-Soviet Russia? What can we learn about the prospects for democracy in Russia from the experience of really existing democracies? Must some pre-requisites, cultural or material, be fulfilled for democracy to become possible? This book examines the current state and the prospects for democracy in Russia, posing several challenges to our understanding of democracy. Thirteen contributors expand the debate over these questions, offering a variety of insights, interpretations, and conclusions vital to understanding the conditions of emergence and survival of successful democracies.Introduction; Part I. Russia: 1. Peculiarities of Russian politics Andranik Migranyan; 2. Imitating democracy, imitating authoritarianism Stephen Holmes; 3. Russian perspectives on democracy, political emancipation, and integrity Mikhail Ilyin; 4. Color revolutions and Russia Valery Solovei; Part II. Democracy in a Russian Mirror: 5. Judging democracy as form of government for given territories: utopia or apologetics? John Dunn; 6. Democracy: ancient and modern, good and bad Pasquale Pasquino; 7. The role of elections in democracy Boris Makarenko; 8. Elections and the challenge lCs