Democracy in a Russian Mirror (Cambridge Studies in the Theory of Democracy)

Cambridge Studies in the Theory of Democracy

by Adam Przeworski

What can we learn about democracy from the experience of post-Soviet Russia? What can we learn about the prospects for democracy in Russia from the experience of 'really existing democracies'? Must some 'pre-requisites', cultural or material, be fulfilled for democracy to become possible? This book examines the current state of Russia and the prospects for democracy, posing several challenges to our understanding of democracy. Thirteen contributors expand the debate over these questions, offering a variety of insights, interpretations, and conclusions vital to understanding the conditions of emergence and survival of successful democracies.

Hardcover

First published May 21, 2015

About the author

Adam Przeworski is the Carroll and Milton Professor of Politics and (by courtesy) Economics at New York University. Previously he taught at the University of Chicago, where he was the Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor, and held visiting appointments in India, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1991, he is the recipient of the 1985 Socialist Review Book Award, the 1998 Gregory M. Luebbert Article Award, the 2001 Woodrow Wilson Prize, the 2010 Lawrence Longley Award, the 2010 Johan Skytte Prize, the 2018 Sakip Sabanci Award, and the 2018 Juan Linz Prize.. He recently published Why Bother with Elections? (London: Polity Press 2018).

Reviews

[Gift · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is nearly impossible to find a book about Russian politics that at least tries to be non-biased. Isn’t it sad that there seems to be a common understanding that there is only one position possible - for or against Russia? For this reason, I have been avoiding all books on this topic for years. Democracy in a Russian Mirror was my first book on any Russian subject and Adam Przeworski was the main argument for me giving it a try. I read Przeworski´s other monograph a couple of months ago and I was impressed of his neutrality and ability to see a well-known topic from different points of view.

This book wasn’t different. Przeworski has tried to give authors with different backgrounds possibility to present their own argument and then to discuss it with other colleagues/authors. Unfortunately, this didn´t last long. The discussion disappeared after three or four captures and took completely different direction. I had to find out that the title - which was implicating Russia as the main subject of the book – was just a marketing strategy. There were only two (!!) captures actually dealing with this subject. The rest of the book was a boring and repetitive discussion about democracy in general. What a shame and what a waste of my time!