In the December 2011 protests that shook Russia, civic mobilization took place in two phases: first, in the form of a protest vote during the December State Duma elections, and second, in the postelection street protests in Moscow and in Russia’s larger regional capitals. To its credit, the Russian opposition was able to quickly tie the problem of electoral fraud to the current structure of the Russian political system, and to speedily organize large protest rallies in response. Yet more needs to be done.
About the Author
Denis Volkov is a researcher at the Yuri Levada Center, an independent Moscow-based organization devoted to the analysis of Russian public life. He comments frequently on politics in the Russian media and studies youth political engagement, the sources and limits of democratization, and the role of digital media in social and political change. This essay was translated from the Russian by Patrick Walsh.
People obsess over where Russia’s democracy went wrong. The truth is it did not fail: Russia’s democratic transition never got off the starting blocks.
