Russia's security-related decision-making: the case of Crimea

Abstract

There are two big issues in the political science of post-communist transition. First, the relationship between rulers and ruled; second, governance arrangements within the executive. The first could be summed up as “politics,” the second as “policy.” The first has received the most attention: are regimes democratic, and if not what other feedback and accountability mechanisms exist? The general consensus is that post-Soviet Russia, particularly under Putin, is not democratic, in that – among other shortcomings – it does not have genuine electoral contests that can potentially produce a change in government. Show more