Democracy is defined as the form of government where the citizens exercise the ruling power in either a direct or indirect manner through a system of free elections. The question of whether there are links between democracy and political stability has been a subject of heated debates. If to include the example of Russia into the discussion, it is important to mention that since the WWI the communist political regime in the country has proven to be an effective alternative to the weak democratic forces that existed, for example, in countries like France (O’Neil et al. 218). During the period of the Soviet Union’s existence, Russia maintained the framework of the social state and the Marxism-Leninism official ideology with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union leading the majority of the political affairs in the country. Communism refers to the social, political, and economic ideology that regards the creation of a socioeconomic structure ruled by the common ownership as the ultimate goal; in communism, the differentiation between social classes is regarded as unacceptable. Anti-communist movements gained momentum in Russia in the period of the Cold War due to the opinions that communism cannot perform in free-market economies and contribute to growth. The modern constitution of Russia declares the country as a democratic and law-based state without the adoption of compulsory ideology.
Political stability in Russia is associated with the same government officials being heads of the country for over fifteen years, and there is little the opposition could do to change the regime in favor of new parties. The political party United Russia has been leading the State Duma since 2003, which says a lot about the stability of the political system of the country, even despite the allegations of crime and corruption. Globally, the main political party of Russia is regarded as a pure presidential party, the goal of which is to secure the presidential power in the parliament. Interestingly, United Russia proclaimed itself as a conservative party rather than a democratic party.
Democracy in Russia is a widely disputed topic because the government exercises many anti-democratic practices to control the political situation in the country. Cases like the assassination of the opposition politician Boris Nemtsov pose many questions about the legitimacy of democracy in the country. Nevertheless, the large majority of Russia’s citizens continue to elect the same leading party as the head of the government, ensuring political stability in the sense that the society is satisfied with the ruling power and is not interested in changing it. With regard to this, it can be concluded that “democracy” causes “stability” despite the lack of acceptance of the actions of the Russian government in the Western world.
In many ways, the stability and the “monopoly” on the political arena in Russia make it easier for citizens to select the same candidates over and over again, even though such stability may be regarded as artificial since the ruling party does not allow the opposition to be vocal enough in order to gain the support from the public. When speaking about the political affairs in Russia, the term “democracy” cannot be applied in the same vein as it is applied to countries like Canada or Sweden since there is not enough representation from the parties with different viewpoints from which citizens can choose.
Work Cited
O’Neil, Patrick, et al. Cases in Comparative Politics. 5th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.