Trends in Russian Views on Democracy 2008-12

Has There Been a Russian Democratic Awakening?

Author(s): Henry Hale
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Aglaya Snetkov, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 117
Pages: 9-11
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2012

With the surprising outbreak of the largest street demonstrations of the Vladimir Putin era against widely perceived election fraud in the December 2011 Duma elections, many observers have speculated that a democratic awakening might be afoot in Russia. Comparison of original public opinion surveys of the Russian citizenry just after the parliamentary-presidential election seasons of 2008 and 2012 reveals little evidence of an awakening and finds broad support for democracy to have remained steady during this period. Survey evidence also shows that the idea of an awakening might be misplaced, however, since the democracy that many Russians tend to support is fully compatible with a strong leader who rules without checks and balances. That is, they support what Guillermo O'Donnell famously called a delegative democracy where people freely and regularly elect leaders who are then expected to wield broad powers without constraints to solve problems and promote development.

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