IS RUSSIA READY FOR DEMOCRACY?

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

SERIES #2  IS RUSSIA READY FOR DEMOCRACY?

By Sharon Tennison

A quote from the New York Times:  November 14, 2009

"It's time to stop treating Russia as a 'handicapped person," former Czech President Vaclav Havel said recently, responding to suggestions that Russia cannot be expected to reach democracy anytime soon. He urged that Russia be treated as a "partner country like any other," applying the same standards to Russia as are applied "to Burma, Brazil, the Czech Republic or any other country."
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Let's use this quote as a springboard for pondering.

HOW DO WE, IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES, WORK WITH THE GRAVE DISPARITIES AMONG PERSONS WITH WHOM WE ASSOCIATE?

We are not all equally endowed or capable or favored in life. We can't apply the same standard to everyone.  Whether we are teachers, lawyers, business owners, or elected Congressmen and women, we run up against situations where national histories, family situations, ethnic backgrounds, traumas, and other variables complicate outcomes.

HISTORY ALWAYS AFFECTS how countries and people relate to the world. It is a fact. It's not a matter of being handicapped - it's a matter of having different experiences, which affect the ways we (and others) understand and interpret life. This is reality.

LOOKING BACK AT THE HISTORIES OF ALL COUNTRIES of our planet, we see how long it has taken even the most enlightened countries to reach stable forms of democracy - and some of our closest trading partners still aren't there. Those, which are stable today, have gone through long periods of slavery, oligarchies, monarchies, and other different types of ill-formed governments. Today's European social democracies draw angst from Americans who fear our democracy might dwindle into state-supported systems similar to theirs. How can we observe other countries' forms of democracy without getting knee-jerk reactions - assuming that they are wrong - and we are right?

LET'S LOOK AT RUSSIA, not from the perspective of a handicapped nation - but one with a totally different history and conditioning than ours.

RUSSIANS, UNFORTUNATELY, MISSED OUT COMPLETELY ON TWO CRITICALLY IMPORTANT PERIODS OF HUMANITY'S  DEVELOPMENT.

*  The first from 1250 to 1500, when the Mongols invaded and ruled Russia with a tight fist, while peoples in Europe and the Mediterranean were in the stages of developing the all-important Renaissance era  - which Russia completely missed.  From then on Russians were under a succession of autocratic Czars with a tiny nobility who owned ordinary Russians as serfs to do their bidding. With few exceptions, they were uneducated and tied to their owners' lands far away from developing societies.

*  The second came in 1917 when the Bolsheviks introduced a fear-driven, massive mind-control system as the Iron Curtain dropped around Russia. This period lasted for nearly 4 generations - while the rest of the developing world exploded with new ideas, laws, openness, inventions, behaviors, trade, travel  and exposure to other cultures - from which Russians were totally cut off.

UNDER THE IRON CURTAIN, Russians developed their own culture, which fortunately included classical arts and education, but harsh circumstances also riveted survival mechanisms and behaviors, fears, paranoias and distrust into everyday life. The final developmental phase of Russian mentality was forged.  When Gorbachev emerged, the Iron Curtain became more penetrable and Russians began traveling. They observed that the outside world was vastly different from their own. And they wanted part of it.  With the breakdown of the USSR, their chance seemed to have come.  But the 1990s, which westerners call 'Russia's period of democracy,' ended up being devastating to Russian citizens.  State constraints vanished, food disappeared from shelves, the country became lawless, security forces turned into criminals, the ruble crashed, their social safety net evaporated, while young communist party members stole the country's major enterprises - which formerly paid for all salaries, pensions and services. We were in Russia during this tragic period. It was awful beyond words. Following this painful period, free enterprise, capitalism and democracy didn't look so good after all.

WITH THIS HISTORY IN MIND, SHOULD WE GIVE RUSSIANS A FEW YEARS TO CATCH UP?  Or should we hold them to our high standard of democracy (after our own 200+ years of trial and error)?

ARE RUSSIANS INTERESTED IN DEMOCRACY?  Of course! What do they want in the way of governance today? First of all, they want order and stability. They want the state to provide a high degree of social services. They had them under communism and still expect them.  They want to be free to run their businesses, to travel, to live where they wish, and to raise their children in relative peace.

A GOOD 75% OF RUSSIA'S POPULATION IS COMFORTABLE WITH RUSSIA'S CURRENT FORM OF GOVERNANCE - it makes no difference to them whether it is managed democracy, sovereign democracy, or relative democracy. For the present Russians have the freedoms that are important to them.  Freedom of press, freedom to bare arms, freedom from government control are not issues of interest - except to the handful of Russians who write for U.S. newspapers.  Russians believe that their country is slowly getting better, and that the direction is correct. Yes, it is far from where they would like it to be someday, but Russians are by nature patient. They know their history well and know that as ordinary people they are better off today than their ancestors were in any previous period of Russia's long history.

WHY SHOULD AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS waste space and US politicians hound Russia because their democracy isn't as developed as ours.  After all, Russians have had only ten years to get their country back together after two devastating crashes. Actually, they deserve our credit, not our harassment.

"IS RUSSIA READY FOR DEMOCRACY?" My humble conclusion: At present Russia is not ready for a participatory democracy - and it has nothing to do with their current leaders. Today Russians have no interest in political party development. It's not a part of their history, they are busy making a living, and prefer to leave politics to experts. Until the time comes when they will participate in local politics, there is no way for a viable multi-party system to develop cross Russia.  It is not a matter of Russia's leaders squelching other parties.  It is that new responsible parties that Russians will vote for, have not yet developed. It also needs to be mentioned that Russians have not yet developed the behaviors necessary to encourage and promote leadership development from the bottom up. This too will need serious attention before participatory democracy can be a reality across Russia. As for today's United Russia party, it is mostly bureaucrats who are cheerleaders for Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev - not a real political party. It may develop into one, if a legitimate alternative party (or two) emerges. I could be wrong, but I don't see that happening soon.

RUSSIA WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY DEMOCRATIC IN THE FUTURE, without a doubt.  And, their democracy will eventually look much more like the Scandinavian model than the US model.  It will probably take another decade or two for Russians to develop the best level of democracy for themselves.

Meanwhile it's time for America to learn to live with Russia's current governance - and treat Russia like we treat other U.S. partners across the world who have very different governance than we.

Your comments or questions will be most appreciated.

Sharon

FYI:  I'm canvassing over 300 Russian entrepreneurs from some 30 regions re "Is Russia ready for democracy?"  I'll send you quotes and a summary when the answers come in.

PS:  Feel free to forward this to your E lists.  Encourage dialogue around these thoughts.

Comments

[ilona@israel]

Russia is not ready according to the next few issiues:
official resalts of voiting says that some region had 100 % appearance of voters, voices for the present president-almost 100%, usually when its real democracy ,voices are a little different. and mentality of people. they need tzar much more then president.