Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that democratization is more than institutional change. It is the adoption of certain values (which include tolerance and majority rule). It also argues that pornography has been approached traditionally by both authoritarian and democratic governments in the same way, much to the detriment of the demo-cracies. The book points out non-traditional approaches for dealing with the problems that pornography presents to democracies (the so-called "Civil Rights" Approach as well as a method stressing sex education in place of government-imposed restrictions) and show why these alternatives are more democratic. It argue that Russia (like many other countries) remains stuck in the traditional approach and that even its most recent "democratic" legislation is barely differentiated from what it created under authoritarian rule. The book examines the changing values and mores in a society that is anything but stable.