They remember Boris Yeltsin’s years as an era of rigged elections, stolen wealth, lawlessness, and economic disintegration. To most Russians, Mikhail Gorbachev was the man who ga...
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Russia: Which Capitalist Road?
The
relationship between democracy and the economy has always been contested terrain. In Russia, many people, including intellectuals, do not see democracy as important to economic reconstruction. They are unconcerned by President Vladimir Putin’s steady elimination of the content, if not the form, of democratic institutions. Defending his near-monopoly of Russian television, Putin claimed that Russians want to know the truth, not its many variations. He has been buying up media, arresting politicians and businessmen who challenge him, substituting appointed for elected local officials, and bringing the judiciary under executive control. In fact, many Russians attribute the country’s current economic growth to the order that Putin has imposed. Western criticism of Putin stokes a nationalistic pride.
They remember Boris Yeltsin’s years as an era of rigged elections, stolen wealth, lawlessness, and economic disintegration. To most Russians, Mikhail Gorbachev was the man who ga...
They remember Boris Yeltsin’s years as an era of rigged elections, stolen wealth, lawlessness, and economic disintegration. To most Russians, Mikhail Gorbachev was the man who ga...
