The organizers of the impending transformations will face a significantly easier task compared to their predecessors in the 90s.
First of all, public consciousness has already been influenced by the “democratic virus”: Russians have embraced the ideals of democracy and the rule of law, eliminating the need to enforce unfamiliar and alien values. Secondly, the magnitude of the upcoming transformations is incomparable. In the 1990s, the transition wasn’t just from authoritarianism to democracy; it also involved a shift from socialism to capitalism. We don’t anticipate unpopular measures like mass privatization this time around.
The primary challenge that transit will face is the redistribution of power between the central government and the regions, compounded by issues of ethnic and national relations. This is precisely where reformers in the Soviet era once slipped on.
We proceed with presenting the chapters of the Transition Project, an expert guide to the step-by-step democratic transformation in Russia following a change of power, commissioned by Free Russia Foundation. The preceding chapter, focusing on methods to involve elites and society for change, is available here.