ABSTRACT
In this section we examine the outcomes of Russia’s counteracting policies and specify the conditions under which they influence democratization processes in Georgia and Ukraine. In doing so we confirm the assumptions presented in the introduction to this special issue, yet also bring important nuances. The introduction posits that the outcome of external actors’ policies depends upon their influence on the domestic balance of power between liberal and illiberal elites and citizens, which is in turn conditioned by economic and security linkages and by the leverage which the external actors have over domestic forces.
