Russia has embarked on a slow but steady path of foreign policy alignment with the West. President Vladimir Putin's market-oriented economic policies and structural reforms have added momentum. But in the long run, the decisive factor in Russia's relationship with the West will be the nature of the political order it builds on the ruins of communism. Since the Soviet collapse Russia seems 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 this book, the author 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. The author argues that it is not the weight of history or the antidemocratic attitudes of the Russian population restraining Russia from making progress toward stronger democratic institutions, but specific leadership policies and elements of Russia's political elite who have a self-interest in maintaining the status quo. This slender book is still in publisher's wraps. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

DEMOCRACY ELITE SOCIAL SCIENCES POLITICAL