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Stengthening Democratic Institutions Project


In the seven years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, democracy in Russia has experienced many triumphs and failures. From the high watershed of successful presidential elections in the Summer of 1996 to the low points of armed conflict erupting between the President and the Parliament in October 1993, the assault on Chechnya in 1994, and the financial crisis in August 1998, logical arguments can be made that Russia’s democratic glass is either half–full or half–empty.

Beginning in 1990, Harvard’s Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project (SDI) has closely followed events affecting Russian political development. Since 1994, SDI’s Russian Political Party–Building Program has worked with over 100 Duma members from all political factions, offering technical assistance in party–building and campaigning techniques; and has hosted numerous Russian political activists, including Grigory Yavlinsky, Yegor Gaidar, Irina Khakamada, Sergei Belyaev, Vladimir Lukin, Yuri Boldyrev, Alexander Vengerovsky, and members of the Boris Yeltsin and Grigory Yavlinsky presidential campaign teams. SDI has distributed its Political Party and Campaigning Handbook to all major Russian factions competing in the 1995 Duma elections, and its bi–monthly Russian Election Watch in 1995–1997 has informed Western observers of important developments leading up to the Duma, presidential, and regional elections.

Because of our close work with the Russian political scene and our unique access to major players making decisions that affect Russian democracy, SDI has been asked by colleagues in Russia and the United States to produce this report assessing the progress of Russian political democratization since 1994. The material and information used to compile the report has been collected in the course of four years of background research on Russian political developments and many meetings, frank discussions, and interviews with leading Russian political figures and grassroots activists.

Our activities have corresponded with an extraordinary period in Russian democratization. In October 1994, when SDI initiated its Russian Political Party–Building Program, there were serious doubts about the likelihood of Russian parliamentary elections occurring in December 1995, let alone Russian presidential elections taking place in June 1996. However, by the end of 1996, Russia had successfully navigated its second parliamentary elections, first presidential elections as an independent country, and over 50 regional gubernatorial elections ( a remarkable achievement.

Yet much remains to be done, and today’s Russian democracy still has its critics. Writing in Le Monde on November 26, 1996, Nobel prize–winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn painted a bleak view of present–day Russian democracy. He maintained that the current Russian leadership is no better than the former Communist one and that nothing resembling democracy currently exists in Russia. Solzhenitsyn argued that Russia is ruled by an elite clique of 150 to 200 individuals drawn from former members of the Soviet establishment and new Russians. In Solzhenitsyn’s view, the state is still not accountable to Russian society and the Russian press remains under tight state control. The collapse of the Russian economy in August 1998 furthered such skepticism about the progress of Russian democracy. The crony capitalism of insider deals and corruption that has plagued Russian society was seen by most observers to have hindered the country’s transition to a market economy and democratic stability.

So is the Russian democratic transition on track or not? In this report, produced by the Coordinator of SDI’s Russian Political Party–Building Program, Research Associate Matthew Lantz, we address two key issues to determine the answer to this question. First, we assess Russian political democratization since 1994, based on SDI’s observations in the field. In these critical years that have seen the first series of truly free, democratic elections for parliament, the President, and governors, how much progress has been made in establishing elections and political parties? Second, we investigate to what extent Western assistance to Russian democratization has made a difference. What has been done, how important has that assistance been, and what lessons can be learned from Western assistance experiences? By addressing these issues of Russian political democratization and Western assistance, we arrive at a better understanding of how far Russia has progressed in its transition to becoming a fully democratic state, and what role organizations such as SDI can, or can not, play in this transition.

Harvard’s Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project works to catalyze support for three historic transformations taking place in Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union: to sustainable democracies, market economies, and cooperative international relations. The Project is a private, non–profit research initiative funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York. Views expressed by individuals associated with the Project represent their own professional judgments and are not offered on behalf of any governments or other institutions.

Graham Allison, Director
Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project

 

The "Whither Russia?" Project

The goal of the "Whither Russia?" project is to illuminate for the international community the ongoing debate in Russia about the country’s identity, security, and interests. Our central question is: what will emerge as the dominant conception of Russian identity, Russian security, and Russian greatness? More specifically, we hope this project can help clarify: competing images of Russia across the political spectrum; how these competing images are reflected in policy; the shape of the debate in specific arenas; the views of the political elite and the public about the debate; differences between views in the regions and those at the center; common threads in the competing images of Russia; and, based on the conclusions drawn, Russia’s fundamental geopolitical and national interests.

As part of the project, we are publishing important works by leading Russian policymakers and academics addressing a set of three broad questions:

  1. Who are the Russians? Authors are examining competing ideas and components of the Russian nation, Russian nationalism, and Russian national identity.
  2. What is the nature of the Russian state? Monographs are analyzing competing images of the state, Russia’s status as a "Great Power," Russia’s national interests, and conceptions of Russia’s friends and enemies.
  3. What is Russia’s Mission? Looking at Russia’s relations with the outside world: specifically with the Newly Independent States, the coalition of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the West, and its orientation toward action, including its stated foreign policy and general international conduct.

In our efforts to present Western scholars and policy makers with the broadest range of views within Russia, we have solicited a range of opinions on highly controversial topics. The opinions expressed in the monographs are those of the authors and do not represent the views of Harvard University, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, or the translators and editors.

Graham Allison, Director
Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project