Abstract
Comparisons of protest movements in Russia and Ukraine show that in the absence of an experienced and organized civil society they cannot successfully institute the changes they seek.
Notes
English translation © 2015 Routledge Taylor and Francis, Inc., from the Russian text © 2014 the Yuri Levada Analytical Center (Levada Center) and the Interdisciplinary Academic Center of the Social Sciences (Intercenter). “Protest i samoorganizatsiia,” Vestnik obshchestvennogo mneniia. Dannye. Analiz. Diskussii, 2014, nos. 1–2, January–June, pp. 141–54. A publication of the Levada Center and Intercenter. Translated by Kim Braithwaite.
1. Parallels between the Maidan and a carnival, in Bakhtin's sense of the word, between the Maidan and a city as a spatial and social structure, are obvious and have been pointed out by a number of observers. Each of the directions based on these metaphors is very interesting and promising, but we will not deal with them here.