Comparative Politics and Crisis of Governance : The Russian Conundrum

About the Book :

Democracy as a political system, its creation and evolution and implications on the people and the states has been the dominant subject matter of the comparative politics in the last five decades. The litmus test of such explanations has been the societies undergoing political transition, switching over from authoritarian political systems to democratic ones. This book is an attempt to critically analyze the theories which have come up in the case of post-Soviet states’ political transition began after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The book argues that democratization should be seen as a broader phenomenon with the objective of building an equal and just social order. Secondly, the dilemma of explaining democracy in theory and in practice can be better explained with the analysis of the nature of state i.e. who governs and how. Thirdly, the nature of any state should be measured on the principles of democratic governance. Here three major indicators of democratic governance have been selected: participation, transparency, and accountability. Analysing Russia within this research framework the book argues that despite having all the capabilities to be a strong state the Russian state has been facing acute crisis of governance being reflected in violent separatist movements, violation of constitutional laws and increasing crime rate. A major reason behind the crisis of governance in Russia is the lack of application of principles of democratic governance at various levels of transition: from the constitution making process to implementation of welfare and other public policies.

About Author :

Dr. Sudhir Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, B B Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow. He wrote his PhD dissertation at the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi on State and Governance in the post-Soviet Russia. He specializes on comparative politics, democratization issues in the post-Soviet countries and governance problems in India. He has been associated with many government bodies of government of India like the Planning Commission, the National Institute for Administrative Research and the Finance Commission. Presently he is also actively involved in the problems of drought and underdevelopment in the Bundelkhand region of Central India.