A review of Democracy’s Victory and Crisis, edited by Axel Hadenius.
About the Author
Richard Rose is director of the Centre for the Study of Public Policy at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and creator of the New Europe Barometer surveys of mass response to transformation in postcommunist countries. His latest book, coauthored with William Mishler and Neil Munro, is Russia Transformed: Developing Political Support for a New Regime (2006).
President Vladimir Putin's lopsided election victory was assisted by an unlevel electoral playing field, but elections still matter in Russia and they will make more difficult the consolidation of authoritarianism.
Efforts to do comparative research on political attitudes have been complicated by varying understandings of “democracy.” The Afrobarometer is exploring new techniques to overcome this difficulty.
