2 of 6

Yes

Write now Article Tools

Considering where the Russian Federation is coming from, it is a democracy with a small "d." Critics conveniently forget what democracy in the United States looked like in the years immediately following 1783.

The change in geographic size from the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation should be noted. The fact that any multi-party representation exists in a completely new entity formed out of a chunk of a single party empire is in itself a surprise. That its functioning is less than perfect should amaze no one. In the large multi-national state which now forms the Russian Federation, Putin has managed quite well - much in the style of the last major reformer prior to the Bolshevik revolution - Peter Stolypin. That a perfect open society does not yet exist in the Russian Federation does not mean that it has gone totalitarian. Reform takes time and probably some backsliding - note Lincoln on Habeas Corpus in the United States' worst civil crisis. Nevertheless, some basics are being built in a state with no immediate past memory of representation. To restructure a broken economy, face radical Islamic separatism(Chechen/Ingush)and provide some form of representative multi-party government would be a tall order for most states.

The criticism from the West throughout this entire process served little except to saddle what order there was with impossible goals to be achieved almost overnight. The "exile" oligarchs are a far cry from earlier generations of exiles. Putin's Russian Federation is a work in progress, not a final product - do a democracy with a small "d'"

Learn more about this author, Michael Graebner.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Is Russia under Vladimir Putin a democracy??
We want to hear your view. Write now!