POST-SOVIET POLITICAL CULTURE IN RUSSIA: AN ASSESSMENT OF RECENT EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS

In: The Pacific review, Band 48, Heft 2, S. 225-260

Abstract

AT A TIME WHEN THE DOMINATING SOURCE OF CONFLICT AND THE GREAT DIVISIONS AMONG PEOPLES ARE CULTURAL, SCHOLARS MUST MAKE RENEWED EFFORTS TO COMPREHEND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CULTURAL FACTORS FOR POLITICS IN THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS. THE NEW DATA-RICH ENVIRONMENT OF THE POST-SOVIET ERA CHALLENGES SCHOLARS TO TEST THEORIES THAT HERETOFORE HAVE LAIN DORMANT BECAUSE OBSTACLES TO DIRECT OBSERVATION FORCED THEM TO PRACTICE ANTHROPOLOGY FROM AFAR OR TO ENGAGE IN FLIGHTS OF FANCY THROUGH HISTORICAL EXTRAPOLATION. THIS ESSAY EXAMINES THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF SOME RECENT EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON POST-SOVIET POLITICAL CULTURE IN RUSSIA, IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN BRIDGE-BUILDING EFFORTS TO THE BENEFIT OF BOTH SOCIAL SCIENCE AND POST-SOVIETOLOGY.