IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/etrans/v27y2019i1p99-137.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chronicles of a democracy postponed : Cultural legacy of the Russian transition

Author

Listed:
  • Elena Gaber
  • Leonid Polishchuk
  • Kharis Sokolov
  • Denis Stukal

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Gaber & Leonid Polishchuk & Kharis Sokolov & Denis Stukal, 2019. "Chronicles of a democracy postponed : Cultural legacy of the Russian transition," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 27(1), pages 99-137, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:etrans:v:27:y:2019:i:1:p:99-137
    DOI: 10.1111/ecot.12207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecot.12207
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecot.12207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maxim Ananiev & Sergei Guriev, 2014. "The Effect of Income on Trust: the Evidence from 2009 Crisis in Russia," Working Papers hal-03429914, HAL.
    2. Filip Novokmet & Thomas Piketty & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "From Soviets to oligarchs: inequality and property in Russia 1905-2016," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(2), pages 189-223, June.
    3. Pereira,Luiz Carlos Bresser & Maravall,José María & Przeworski,Adam, 1993. "Economic Reforms in New Democracies," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521438452, January.
    4. Shiller, Robert J & Boycko, Maxim & Korobov, Vladimir, 1991. "Popular Attitudes toward Free Markets: The Soviet Union and the United States Compared," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(3), pages 385-400, June.
    5. Dani Rodrik, 1996. "Understanding Economic Policy Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 9-41, March.
    6. Michael Alexeev & Shlomo Weber, 2013. "Russian economy, the," The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics,, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. John Williamson, 1994. "The Political Economy of Policy Reform," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 68, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:zbw:bofitp:2020_017 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Timur Natkhov & William Pyle, 2022. "Revealed in Transition: The Political Effect of Planning's Legacy," CESifo Working Paper Series 9929, CESifo.
    3. William Pyle, 2021. "Russia’s “impressionable years”: life experience during the exit from communism and Putin-era beliefs," Post-Soviet Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 1-25, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Natkhov, T. & Polishchuk, L., 2017. "Political Economy of Institutions and Development: The Importance of Being Inclusive. Reflection on "Why Nations Fail" by D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson. Part II. Institutional Change and Impli," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 12-32.
    2. Hayo, Bernd, 2004. "Public support for creating a market economy in Eastern Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 720-744, December.
    3. Mariano Tommasi, 2003. "Crises, institutions politiques et réformes politiques : le bon, le mauvais et l'affreux," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 11(2), pages 49-81.
    4. Alshyab, Nooh, 2013. "The Political Economy of Reform and Development of the Washington Consensus," MPRA Paper 46014, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Bernd Hayo & Doh Shin, 2002. "Mass Attitudes Toward Financial Crisis and Economic Reform in Korea," Development and Comp Systems 0205003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Hayo, Bernd, 1999. "Micro and macro determinants of public support for market reforms in Eastern Europe," ZEI Working Papers B 25-1999, University of Bonn, ZEI - Center for European Integration Studies.
    7. Mariano Tommasi, 2002. "Crisis, Political Institutions and Policy Reform: It Is Not the Policy, It Is the Polity, Stupid," Working Papers 49, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Jun 2004.
    8. Bernd Hayo & Florian Neumeier, 2017. "Public Attitudes toward Fiscal Consolidation: Evidence from a Representative German Population Survey," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 42-69, February.
    9. Pitlik, Hans & Wirth, Steffen, 2003. "Do crises promote the extent of economic liberalization?: an empirical test," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 565-581, September.
    10. Prato, Carlo & Wolton, Stephane, 2018. "Rational ignorance, populism, and reform," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 119-135.
    11. McCourt, Willy, 2003. "Political Commitment to Reform: Civil Service Reform in Swaziland," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1015-1031, June.
    12. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Luis Alfonso Dau, 2009. "Structural Reform and Firm Exports," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 479-507, September.
    13. Jain, Sanjay & Majumdar, Sumon & Mukand, Sharun W, 2014. "Walk the line: Conflict, state capacity and the political dynamics of reform," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 150-166.
    14. Kroszner, Randall S., 1999. "Is the Financial System Politically Independent? Perspectives on the Political Economy of Banking and Financial Regulation," Working Papers 151, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    15. Agnello, Luca & Castro, Vitor & Jalles, João Tovar & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2015. "What determines the likelihood of structural reforms?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 129-145.
    16. Robert A.J. Dur & Otto H. Swank, 1997. "On the Role of the Governmental Agreement in Breaking Political Deadlocks," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 97-023/1, Tinbergen Institute.
    17. Zhang, Xiaobo & Tan, Kong-Yam, 2004. "Blunt to sharpened razor: incremental reform and distortions in the product and capital markets in China," DSGD discussion papers 13, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Luciano Marcello Milone, 2015. "Structural Reforms in the European Union after the Global Crisis: Problems and Prospects," Working Papers in Public Economics 171, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    19. Natkhov, T. & Polishchuk, L., 2017. "Political Economy of Institutions and Development: The Importance of Being Inclusive. Reflection on "Why Nations Fail" by D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson. Part I. Institutions and Economic Devel," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 12-38.
    20. Christoph A. Schaltegger & Martin Weder, 2014. "Fiscal adjustment and the costs of public debt service: evidence from OECD countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(22), pages 2593-2610, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:etrans:v:27:y:2019:i:1:p:99-137. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ebrdduk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.