What Went Wrong in Russia? Forcing the Pace of Democratization

The history of twentieth-century European communist parties shows that extremists can be moderated by robust democratic institutions. Without them, however, the inclusion of extremist parties may undermine democracy.

The failures of post-Soviet reform notwithstanding, serious strides have been made toward economic and political transformation.

In Russia, formally democratic institutions coexist uneasily with the reality of tightly consolidated bureaucratic and executive power.