Modernisation, neo-modernisation, and comparative democratisation in Russia

• Published in: East European politics Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 43 - 57
• Main Author: Sakwa, Richard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 01.03.2012; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Capitalism; Debates; Democracy; democratisation; Democratization; Developing countries; Discredited; Focused attention; LDCs; modernisation; Modernization; neo-modernisation; Political transition; post-communism; Russian Federation; Social change; Social order; Social sciences; Soviet Union; Transformation; Transitions; Russia
• ISSN: 2159-9165; 2159-9173
• DOI: 10.1080/13523279.2011.636034

There has long been a debate over whether development is a prerequisite for democracy, and by the same token, whether democracy is a precondition for development. This debate is part of the larger literature examining problems of 'transition', a term which is at best no more than a code word for the processes shaping accelerated and conscious transformation of a society from one type of social order to another. For some three decades, the field of comparative democratisation has focused attention on the mechanics of political transition and the creation of new democracies, accompanied by analysis of the reasons for 'failed transitions'. While linear versions of modernisation theory have been discredited, the creation of capitalist democracies on the western model has encountered resistance. The two versions of the neo-modernisation paradigm (critical and civilisational) help us to examine the 'transition' dynamics of developing societies as well as providing a framework to critique existing theories.