The Origins and Elements of Imitated Democracies
On Political Developments in the Post-Soviet Space
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Russia’s political system is not unique. Throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union, diverse regimes have established themselves behind a democratic façade while concentrating power in the hands of each respective president. A comparison of the Eastern Slavic states with those of Central Asia and the Caucasus shows not only that these imitated democracies have the same source, but that the one-man regimes also draw on the same elements and practices of political rule. Contrary to their purported power and stability, they are dysfunctional in their claims of control, their means of creating legitimacy and their socio-economic productivity. They all contain the seeds of their own downfall.
(Osteuropa 9/2006, pp. 3–24)