Things Can Only Get Better? Changing Views of the Past, Present and Future in the Former Soviet Union

Abstract

Previous research has reported substantial levels of nostalgia for the Soviet era among citizens of some of the independent republics that emerged from its collapse. We report new analyses from eight former Soviet republics, and from two surveys, in 2001 and 2010, comparing attitudes to government in the Soviet period and at the time of the surveys, as well as expectations for the future. Everywhere, views of the past have become less positive and those of the present more positive. However, both the views in each survey and the change between each of them vary among countries and socio-demographic groups.

Notes

¹ Both were collaborative projects funded by the EU Directorate-General for Research. For further details for the 2001 surveys, see http://www.hitt-cis.net, and for the 2010 surveys, see http://www.llh.at.