The Prospects of Democracy in Russians' Minds

Abstract

The process of transforming the political system has been going on in Russia for ten years now. During this time, the regime and institutions of government, the elite, and the system of official political values have all undergone change, so that democratic objectives and orientations have come to occupy a central place among the latter. Those born at the start of perestroika are now schoolchildren. They now have a greater chance of becoming scouts than young Leninists, although the latter is not impossible. A new generation has appeared, and its members' familiarity with politics will be based on objectives and orientations different from those that characterized the lives of their parents. Although the discrepancy between generations is greater than at any time in our history since the civil war, our political science has yet to devote much attention to this. At the same time, the prospects for the development of Russian democracy must be examined precisely through the prism of the psychological changes associated with the advent of new generations.