Autocracy and democracy in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

Abstract

This article discusses and applies the concept of ‘embedded democracy’ to the Community of Independent States (CIS), with a focus on Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The cases are rather similar: the electoral regime, the public arena, the regime of civic freedoms and the vertical power structure are defective in all three countries. Because of notable defects in the electoral regime, Belarus is an autocratic regime with strong parallels to the defective democracies in Russia and Ukraine. The communist legacy is partially responsible for the similarity of the cases. Other variables identified for the development of democratic defects are the conflicting regime change, the economic crisis, the unequal distribution of power resources, the ‘dark side’ of civil society, the identity crisis in nation-building and societal fragmentation. Altogether the model of ‘embedded democracy’ is very useful for analysing post-Soviet regimes. However, some recent developments in the region indicate that countries like Russia and Ukraine are heading towards autocracy, with a growing divergence from the root concept of electoral democracy.