Although Russia experienced dramatic political breakthroughs in the late 1980s and early 1990s after shedding the shackles of Soviet rule, it subsequently failed to continue progressing toward democracy. M. Steven Fish offers an explanation for the direction of regime change in post-Soviet Russia, relying on cross-national comparative analysis as well as on in-depth field research in Russia. Fish demonstrates that Russia's failure to democratize has three causes: too much economic reliance on oil, too little economic liberalization, and too weak a national legislature.
Author(s): M. Steven Fish
Series: Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 333
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 4
Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Dedication......Page 8
Contents......Page 10
Figures......Page 12
Tables......Page 13
Acknowledgments......Page 16
Abbreviations......Page 18
The Study and Its Arguments in Context......Page 20
Method and Logic of Causal Inference......Page 25
Overview of the Book......Page 32
A Definition of Democracy......Page 34
Measuring Political Openness......Page 39
Rating Russia’s Regime......Page 42
3 Symptoms of the Failure of Democracy......Page 49
Problems and Logics of Detection......Page 50
Funny Numbers......Page 52
Spectacles of Mischief and Failures of Monitoring......Page 60
Does Falsification Really Matter?......Page 71
Soft Coercion and Abuse of “Administrative Resources”......Page 73
Hard Coercion......Page 79
Arbitrary Exclusion from Electoral Participation......Page 80
Restrictions on Communication......Page 86
Limitations on Association......Page 94
Coda: The 2003–2004 Elections......Page 96
Summary......Page 100
4 The Russian Condition in Global Perspective......Page 101
Hypotheses......Page 102
Analysis......Page 107
The Irrelevance of What Russia Is Not: Islamic Tradition and British Colonial Heritage......Page 111
The Insignificance of Autocracy, Orthodoxy, and Nationality......Page 113
Socioeconomic Conditions: The Myth of Russian Destitution......Page 117
Excursus: Life Expectancy in Russia......Page 124
Mass Attitudes: (Dis)trust, (In)tolerance, and Orientation Toward Political Regime......Page 127
Summary......Page 131
5 The Structural Problem......Page 133
Does Resource Abundance Undermine Democracy? Empirical Evidence......Page 134
The Rentier Effect......Page 137
The Repression Effect......Page 141
The Modernization Effect......Page 142
The Corruption Effect......Page 146
The Economic Policy Effect......Page 153
Summary......Page 156
6 The Policy Problem......Page 158
The Great Debate over Market and Political Regime......Page 159
Empirical Evidence......Page 161
The Danger of Regional Specificity......Page 163
Potential Problems of Measurement......Page 166
The Logic of the Case for Gradualism......Page 169
The Logic of the Case for Shock Therapy......Page 175
The Cross-National Picture: Where Russia Fits In......Page 177
Economic Policy Reform: The Macroenvironment......Page 179
The View from Below: The Microenvironment......Page 188
Why the Myth of Shock Therapy?......Page 191
The Weakness of Organized Opposition and Civil Society......Page 195
The Tenuousness of the Socioeconomic Basis for Civil Society......Page 199
Excursus: Does Civil Society Matter for Open Politics?......Page 202
The State’s Leverage over Societal Organizations......Page 206
Summary......Page 211
7 The Institutional Problem......Page 212
Overview of Constitutional Types and Their Merits......Page 213
Classification of Postcommunist Political Systems......Page 215
A Preliminary Empirical Probe......Page 216
The Centrality of Parliamentary Power......Page 217
Some Criteria of Parliamentary Power in Light of Duverger’s Conception......Page 218
Assessing the Status of Legislatures: The Parliamentary Powers Index......Page 220
The Legislature’s Powers in Russia......Page 222
Parliamentary Powers, Semipresidentialism, and Democracy......Page 224
The Roots of Constitutional Choice......Page 229
Constitutional Choice in Russia......Page 235
Constitutional Choice as a Determinant of Political Regime......Page 239
Tenuous Regime Legitimacy......Page 243
Listless Political Parties......Page 245
Amateurish Politicians......Page 249
Frail State Agencies......Page 256
Unbridled Corruption......Page 260
What About Culture and Tradition?......Page 262
What About the Legislature’s Foibles?......Page 263
8 Can Democracy Get Back on Track?......Page 265
Synopsis of the Explanation......Page 266
What Kind of Explanation Is This?......Page 271
The Explanation’s Limitations......Page 273
How Will We Know If This Explanation Is Faulty?......Page 276
Natural Resources: The Curse Endures......Page 277
Economic Policy: Liberal Principles Versus Statist Interests......Page 280
The Power of the Legislature: The Institutionalization of Incapacity......Page 285
A Final Word......Page 289
References......Page 292
Index......Page 322
