Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction Transformation and its aftermath
- 1 Time matters: the dynamics of regime support
- 2 The supply of regimes: democratic and autocratic
- 3 A changing supply of Russian regimes
- 4 Uncertainties of transformation: a view from the bottom
- 5 Changing levels of regime support
- 6 Social structure and the evaluation of regimes
- 7 The influence of political values and performance
- 8 Finding the economic influences that matter
- 9 The impact of the passage of time
- 10 What could challenge the new equilibrium?
- Appendix A New Russia Barometer samples
- Appendix B Coding of variables
- References
- Index
5 - Changing levels of regime support
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction Transformation and its aftermath
- 1 Time matters: the dynamics of regime support
- 2 The supply of regimes: democratic and autocratic
- 3 A changing supply of Russian regimes
- 4 Uncertainties of transformation: a view from the bottom
- 5 Changing levels of regime support
- 6 Social structure and the evaluation of regimes
- 7 The influence of political values and performance
- 8 Finding the economic influences that matter
- 9 The impact of the passage of time
- 10 What could challenge the new equilibrium?
- Appendix A New Russia Barometer samples
- Appendix B Coding of variables
- References
- Index
Summary
We must distinguish between government all wise, all just, all powerful, and government as it actually is.
Alfred Marshall, Principles of EconomicsIn every political regime, there is competition between people and ideas. In an established democratic system, elections resolve the question: who governs? The competition for ideas includes differences between those who advocate marginal reforms and people satisfied with government “as it actually is.” Support for the existing regime and the rejection of alternatives are taken for granted; demands for reform are intended to improve rather than replace a regime.
In a new regime, there can be competition for support between regimes, since everyone knows from experience that there is more than one way that their country can be governed. Political competition is not only about improving the existing regime but also about replacing the current regime by one or more alternatives. To achieve a political equilibrium, the new regime must build positive support for itself, or at least demonstrate either that it is preferable to any alternative regime, or that it is the only regime that is politically possible.
The level of political support at any given point of time is less important than how that support is changing – and in what direction. Insofar as a new regime has little or no reserve from habits of the past, losing support from one year to the next invites ambitious politicians to come forward with an alternative regime and mobilize support to replace it.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Russia TransformedDeveloping Popular Support for a New Regime, pp. 86 - 105Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006