Can Democracy Take Root in Post-Soviet Russia? Explorations in State Society Relations. By Harry Eckstein, Frederic J. Fleron, Jr., Erik P. Hoffman, and William M. Reisinger, with Richard Ahl, Russell Bova, and Philip G. Roeder. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998. 420p. $64.00 cloth, $21.95 paper.

Abstract

A decade after communism's collapse, what do we have to report? For one thing, some states certainly have it easier than others. A handful of the postcommunist states located in close proximity to the West have made admirable progress in constructing viable market economies and meaningful insti- tutions of democratic representation, but a much larger group has yet to taste the fruits of what Western politicians in the 1990s called "market democracy." Among this latter group, some retain at the time of this writing a formal commitment to democracy, but others have never moved very far from the authoritarian cronyism where they started.