Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform [Paperback]

Michael McFaul (Author), Nikolai Petrov (Author), Andrei Ryabov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2004

For hundreds of years, dictators have ruled Russia. Do they still? In the late 1980s, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev launched a series of political reforms that eventually allowed for competitive elections, the emergence of an independent press, the formation of political parties, and the sprouting of civil society. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, these proto-democratic institutions endured in an independent Russia. But did the processes unleashed by Gorbachev and continued under Russian President Boris Yeltsin lead eventually to liberal democracy in Russia? If not, what kind of political regime did take hold in post-Soviet Russia? And how has Vladimir Putins rise to power influenced the course of democratic consolidation or the lack thereof? "Between Dictatorship and Democracy" seeks to give a comprehensive answer to these fundamental questions about the nature of Russian politics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A comprehensive, rich, and insightful overview of the major trends in Russian democratization since the Gorbachev era." -- Stephen Hanson, University of Washington

"A thoroughly comprehensive book on one of the most important questions facing Russia today." -- Yegor Gaidar, Director of the Institute for the Economy in Transition and former Prime Minister of Russia, 1991-92

"There are simply no better scholars of Russian democracy writing today than Michael McFaul, Nikolai Petrov, and Andrei Ryabov." -- Stephen Sestanovich, Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador at Large for the New Independent States

"[A] collection of empirically rich and theoretically informed essays by Russian and American specialists. . ." -- Timothy J. Colton, Director of Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

About the Author

Michael McFaul is the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is also an Associate Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and a nonresident Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 1995, he worked for two years as a Senior Associate for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center. McFaul is also a Research Associate at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, both at Stanford. He is a widely published author, with articles appearing in magazines, newspapers, and journals worldwide. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Slavic Languages and his M.A. in Slavic and East European Studies, both from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. in International Relations from Oxford University in 1991.

Nikolai Petrov is head of the Center for Political Geographic Research and is a leading research associate with the Institute of Geography at the Russian Academy of Sciences. From 1990–1995, he served as an adviser to the Russian parliament, government, and presidential apparatus. Petrov was the chief organizer of the Analysis and Forecast Division in the Supreme Soviet and head of a governmental working group on regional problems. He also served as an analyst in the Analytical Center of the President. From 1996 to 2000, he led the regional project at the Carnegie Moscow Center, where he published the Political Almanac of Russia 1997, and the annual supplements Russian Regions in 1999 and 2000, as well as numerous essays on elections, federalism, and regionalism. From 2000 to 2002, he taught at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota. He earned his Ph.D. in Geography from Moscow State University in 1982.

Andrei Ryabov is a leading political scientist in Russia. Since October 2002, he has been editor-in-chief of the Russian academic journal The World Economy and International Relations. Prior to joining the Carnegie Moscow Center, he worked as a senior researcher at the Center of International Programs of the Russian Independent Institute of Social and National Problems and as senior researcher at the department of modern Russian political process of Moscow State University. He was previously deputy chief editor of Vestnik, the Moscow University Political Science series. Ryabov coauthored several books, including Philosophy of Power and Party-Political Elites and Electoral Processes in Russia. In addition to his work with Carnegie, Ryabov is deputy director of the Center of Political Science Programs at the Gorbachev Foundation. He received his Ph.D. from the Moscow State Historical Archive Institute.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870032062
• ISBN-13: 978-0870032066
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #906,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A close scrutiny of the democratic reforms, June 5, 2005

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This review is from: Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform (Paperback)

Three expert scholars and associate professors combine their knowledge of modern-day Russian politics in Between Dictatorship And Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform, a close scrutiny of the democratic reforms that have been launched to change Russia's political workings in the past two decades. From a comprehensive evaluation of how Vladimir Putin's ascension has changed the course of the nation, to extensive charts and references packed with hard data, to diagrams and detailed walkthroughs of the transformations Russian government has undergone, Between Dictatorship and Democracy offers a crystal-clear picture of Russia's turbulent recent past, their changing present, and the possibilities of the future. Highly recommended for academic and political studies collections.