Making Russian Democracy Work Social Capital, Economic Development, and Democratization

This book explores the myriad factors at work in the process of post-Communist democratization in Russia, with an explicit focus on the role performed by social capital and socio-economic development. Using both an historical approach and quantitative evidence from across Russia’s 89 regions, this work explores the role performed by economic development and social capital leading to the democratization of the Soviet Union and in contributing to the consolidation of democracy in contemporary Russia. The results offer some grounds for a guardedly optimistic assessment of the prospects for making democracy work in Russia. The work contributes to the body of literature on comparative regime transitions, post-Communist politics, and to the study of democratic governance in general.