Thread: Is Russia a democracy? Плюс то же о некоторых других странах

Originally Posted by SergeMak

Talking about the Soviet Union one should clearly understand that its state structure wasn't invariable throughout the Soviet period. Mainly there were two long periods: the first, dating from the middle of the 20's till 1953 was a period of the Stalin's cult of personality and the second from that date up to the break-down in 1991 was a period of "partocracy" or the rule of the Communist Party beurocracy.
Another thing one should clearly understand is that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was not a usual political party, it was a huge political and economic organization which had penetrated all and every living cell of the Soviet society. Every labour collective in the Soviet Union had its own party cell. Every district of a city, every city, every region of the country, every republic had their party organizations. It was almost impossible to make a career for those who were not members of the party. So every key position in the society were occupied by communists. The communists in the local organizations or in labour collective organizations were actually quite ordinary people, they didn't differ from their co-workers or neighbors. The question is: "was there inner-party democracy or not?" I think, yes, there was some inner-party democracy although there was a strict party discipline.
So, when you ask, was there democracy in the Soviet Union, I say, yes, in the last 3 or 4 decades of its history there was a sort of democracy, but it was not a representative democracy usual for the West, it was a democracy for the most active layer of population connected however to all other people.

Thanks for that information. I didn't understand Russian history as well as I thought I did.

But I still don't get that it's very important for a country to be a democracy. Lots of countries have democracies and they still have serious issues and make wars. And like Yuri said, when 2 or more parties are always fighting to be in control then there's a lot of wasted time and energy. Also it can cause corruption when corporations are supporting those fights. But I do like the kind of democracy in Switzerland that Hanna posted about. That's really cool!
The only important thing is for Russia (and any other country) to have a government that cares about the people and listens.

Originally Posted by UhOhXplode

... And like Yuri said, when 2 or more parties are always fighting to be in control then there's a lot of wasted time and energy.
The only important thing is for Russia (and any other country) to have a government that cares about the people and listens.

Yes, wasted, the same happens when engineers at Sony and Panasonic concurrently try to enhance the same technology. At first glance, it seems, that it does not make a sense: they could union efforts and complete the task better and faster. In reality... if the only party is not afraid anything, then it could stay in relaxed state, and without serious efforts, the things can only be getting worse.
Предоставленные сами себе события имеют тенденцию развиваться от плохого к худшему. (Как это будет по-английски? )
Of course, if 2 parties are sure that they will last forever, then there is a similar problem.

Regarding modern Russia. For me, nothing has changed. Yeltsin retired when he was "tired". Our governor had been sitting for 20 years before he got tired, Putin will be in power as long as he wishes, too. They all are Tsars, be them local or nation-wide. Only aliens could plan here "a government that cares about the people and listens".