I know propaganda. I give you the insight.
www.quora.com
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia became a dictatorship again. What should've been done differently so that Russia could've become a democracy like the United States?
“After the collapse of the Soviet Union, what should've been done differently so that Russia could've become a democracy?”
Nothing.
Three reasons, mainly.
1. No land for democracy
Unlike some other territories in the former Soviet block, like the Baltics and Poland, we in Russia never had a previous experience of popular rule. We simply have no reference frame. In our neck of the woods, it’s the opposite. Everything we associate with national triumphs, like winning a world war, space exploration, or conquest of Crimea, was delivered by brutal dictatorships.
As they say, Russian soil hates invaders’ boots, asphalted roads, and free elections.
2. No benign occupier
You may point to countries such as Japan and South Korea. From brutal autocracies, during the cold war they suddenly metamorphosed into a showcase for liberal democracy.
The difference between them and us was the Americans who took the reins. It was a benign foreign force that not only wrote a rule book for them but had the muscle and determination to enforce it.
This wasn’t easy. The Americans tried to replicate the success in Afghanistan and Iraq. They threw much more money there on the task than in East Asia after the war, to ridiculously little effect. Turns out, soil rejects free elections not only in Russia.
3. No middle class
The default state of matter in the world is not light and warmth but rather cold darkness. Similarly, non-democracy is the default state of human societies. Liberal democracy is rare. It’s hard, 24/7/365 work. And someone needs to do that work.
The middle class are the only people that are able to do that. Not sure they always will. Our middle class is overwhelmingly those who are employed by the State or live off government contracts. And for them, Yeltsin’s and Putin’s authoritarianism offer more benefits than disadvantages. This situation looks to be lasting for another generation or two.
Below, art by Alexéy Yegórov that nicely illustrates how power works through the lens of a regular Russian commoner.
The small creature at the bottom is a regular Russian. The fat creature above him is his boss. The boss holds for him a lifeline that connects them both to the celestial body of all-encompassing State power. Any attempt at horizontal self-organization against the will of the boss or the State threatens to sever this lifeline. Then, the poor little creature will stand exposed, defenseless, alone against the elements and the vultures circling right above.
This is why everyone in our neck of the woods—from a single mother in deep provinces to a minister in Putin’s government—confronted with the question, “Why don’t you try and change that rotten system?” would always answer: “Get real, dude. There’s nothing in the world I can do about it anyway!”
Picture (c) Alexéy Yegórov
