ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some early findings documenting the growth of new forms of political participation in the former Soviet Union. The study of political participation in the Soviet Union began with a widely held assumption that there existed "two different modes of the modern participatory state, the democratic and the totalitarian". The pre-Gorbachev political system produced a set of costs and incentives which shaped whether one would be active as well as the channels of political participation. The arena for political participation in the Soviet Union was redefined in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Traditionally, Soviet citizens expressed their wishes and concerns to central officials and organs through the ritual of petitioning. Among the most astounding developments in the political life of the Soviet Union was the creation of thousands of voluntary associations and so-called "informal" organizations and movements.
