ABSTRACT
As the politics of power sharing subsided in 1994 under the new constitution, attention shifted within the law reform process to competition over drafting Russia's new market-oriented civil code. No one working on rule-of-law front on behalf of Russia and the newly independent states has any illusions about the degree of difficulty that cultural change presents in societies shaped by centuries of authoritarianism. In order to provide targeted and effective rule-of-law assistance in contemporary Russia, European and American aid donors need to be aware of the post-communist policy universe, and the numerous and diverse political actors and forces which vie for influence therein. Good and useful work has been done by foreign advisors on political and legal fronts of some of the newly independent states, but at best it is still only seedtime for democracy and the rule of law in most of these societies.
