Think illiberal democracy and think about how many other regimes are similar.
Russia under prime minister Vladimir Putin is a sham democracy, Mikhail Gorbachev has said in his harshest criticism yet of the ruling regime."We have everything – a parliament, courts, a president, a prime minister and so on. But it's more of an imitation," the last president of the Soviet Union said.
Gorbachev, who oversaw the softening of the communist system and subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, has become increasingly critical of the modern Russian state, accusing its leaders of rolling back the democratic reforms of the 1990s… Asked how he thought the regime approached human rights, Gorbachev said: "There's a problem there. It's a sign of the state of our democracy."
He was echoing statements made by Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, during a visit to Russia last week. Gorbachev said United Russia, the ruling party founded with the sole goal of supporting Putin's leadership, was a throwback.
"United Russia reminds me of the worst copy of the Communist party," he said. "We have institutions but they don't work. We have laws but they must be enforced."Its stranglehold over political life would eventually backfire. "The monopoly ends in rotting and hampers the development of democratic processes."…
See also: Democracy with Russian characteristics
1 comment:
Certainly the Russian Federation is undemocratic. Of all the former Soviet states (with the possible exception of the Balkans), Russia has had maybe one of the hardest times adjuting to a non-communist democratic form of government.
Something I think Gorbachev recognizes is that Russia has no history of democracy. Before the October revolution, the czars ruled as autocratic despots and the Duma had no power whatsoever to protect the Russian people and offer representative governmet. AFter the October revolution, Lenin's policy of democratic centralism ensured that Russia remained in the hands of a very few. For a country with such little democratic tradition, it's not surprising that Russia finds itself in the same position as many other nations - a few very wealthy people who also happen to have control of the governemnt, an economy that's sinking fast, and elections that are neither free nor fair. However, Russia hs been doing better and hopefully, with time the democratic tradition will be able to take root.
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