Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780815715351)

Twice in the winter of 1999-2000, citizens of the Russian Federation flocked to their neighborhood voting stations and scratched their ballots in an atmosphere of uncertainty, rancor, and fear. This book is a tale of these two elections--one for the 450-seat Duma, the other for President. Despite financial crisis, a national security emergency in Chechnya, and cabinet instability, Russian voters unexpectedly supported the status quo. The elected lawmakers prepared to cooperate with the executive branch, a gift that had eluded President Boris Yeltsin since he imposed a post-Soviet constitution by referendum in 1993. When Yeltsin retired six months in advance of schedule, the presidential mantle went to Vladimir Putin--a career KGB officer who fused new and old ways of doing politics. Putin was easily elected President in his own right. This book demonstrates key trends in an extinct superpower, a troubled country in whose stability, modernization, and openness to the international community the West still has a huge stake.

Author: Timothy J. Colton,Michael McFaul
ISBN-10: 0815715358
ISBN-13: 9780815715351
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Language: English
Published: 11/04/2003
Pages: 317
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.99lbs
Size: 8.52h x 6.68w x 0.92d