ABSTRACT
The chapter examines the critics of neoliberal economic reforms who claimed that these reforms not only undermined democracy everywhere they were introduced but also were hopelessly out of touch with political, economic, and cultural realities in Russia. On this issue the main argument is that the available empirical evidence is at best inconclusive and often contradicts the critical argument against neoliberal reforms. It showed that the degree of support for democracy remained strong in Poland despite shock therapy, and cited evidence which suggests that the degree of commitment to democratic values in Russia was not affected significantly by the introduction of the shock therapy reforms. Then it argues that the main reason accounting for post-communist Russia's evolution into a delegative democracy was the deeply flawed design of its main political institutions. Finally it analyzed the factors that served to weaken the liberal-democratic forces and empower the anti-system nationalist and communist parties.
