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Chronicles of a democracy postponed
Author(s) -
Gaber Elena,
Polishchuk Leonid,
Sokolov Kharis,
Stukal Denis
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
economics of transition and institutional change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2577-6983
pISSN - 2577-6975
DOI - 10.1111/ecot.12207
Subject(s) - democracy , virtuous circle and vicious circle , politics , order (exchange) , political economy , political science , civic culture , democratic system , economic system , sociology , economics , law , finance , macroeconomics
We explain a lack of civic culture in today's Russia, closely related to a democratic deficit in the country, by a path dependency which has originated at the critical juncture of transition to market economy. Suppression of democracy in the early 1990s to expedite unpopular reform exposed the new institutional order to oligarchic capture and set in motion a vicious circle of extractive economic and political institutions. The latter have been shaping views and attitudes in the society via institutional learning, continuously suppressing civic culture and solidifying social foundations for extractive institutions. We present evidence from the World Values Survey supporting the above conclusions.