ABSTRACT

One of the key puzzles in contemporary Russian history is the failure of civil society to mobilise around what would appear to be massive common grievances. There are, undoubtedly, numerous causes for this, among which may be such widely reported phenomena as low social capital and a deeply ingrained mistrust of collective action. Basic political theory, however, suggests another factor that may be important in the reticence of Russians to prevent the return to authoritarianism so widely trumpeted in international headlines: the media. Thus, in 1772, David Hume wrote:

It is apprehended, that arbitrary power would steal in upon us, were we not careful to prevent its progress, and were there not an easy method of conveying the alarm from one end of the kingdom to another. The spirit of the people must be frequently rouzed, in order to curb the ambition of the court; and the dread of rouzing this spirit must be employed to prevent that ambition. Nothing so effectual to this purpose as the liberty of the press, by which all the learning, wit and genius of the nation may be employed on the side of freedom, and everyone be animated to its defence. (Hume [1772] 1994: 3)

Some seventy years later, Alexis de Tocqueville echoed the thought: ‘Nothing but a newspaper can drop the same thought into a thousand minds at the same moment’ ([1840] 1994: 111).