ABSTRACT

The 1990s began with a great deal of hope and perhaps rather unrealistic expectations about how quickly Russia could be transformed into a prosperous democracy. Under Yeltsin Russia developed a rather freewheeling and chaotic pluralism and vital elements of Russia’s democratic transition were begun. Russia acquired a new Constitution in 1993, civil society organisations and political parties sprang up, multi-candidate elections were held, and the mass media expressed a wide range of opinions. Economically, culturally and politically Russia was more open to the rest of the world than ever before. However, it was hard for many ordinary Russians, struggling with the day-to-day realities of life to feel empowered by Russia’s first decade of democracy, or for the concept of democracy to acquire substantive value. It should also not be forgotten that Yeltsin bombarded the parliament in 1993 to bring it into line, introduced a Constitution that set up a super-presidency and tried to ignore the parliament, launched a war against Chechnia that killed 50,000 people and repaid the oligarchs with state assets for their help in ensuring that he won the 1996 presidential election.