1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910782181903321

Autore

Murray Don <1947->

Titolo

A democracy of despots [[electronic resource] /] / Donald Murray

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Montreal, : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1995

ISBN

1-282-85365-1

9786612853654

0-7735-6568-X

Descrizione fisica

xiii, 250 p

Disciplina

947.085/4/0922

Soggetti

HISTORY / General

Russia (Federation) History

Soviet Union Politics and government 1985-1991

Russia (Federation) Politics and government 1991-

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Chronology -- Introduction -- An Oasis of Liberty -- Searching for the New World -- The First Campaign -- The Day of Discussion -- The Swamp -- An Unofficial funeral -- Miniature, Everyday Coups -- Another Country ... Another Man -- The Final Coup -- The Rebel -- Raskol -- A Higher Value -- Russia Returns to Its Roots -- Confrontation Still Lives in Our Souls -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

A Democracy of Despots is a history of Soviet and Russian experiments with democratic institutions from 1988 to 1995. Based on eye-witness accounts and in-depth interviews with most of the political leaders in this drama, it tells the story of the men and women who began an experiment in euphoria only to find themselves at war with one another five years later. Arguing that Gorbachev and Yeltsin used the democratic institutions they created to crush political opponents and increase their own personal power, Murray concludes that the rise of Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the war in Chechnya are not aberrations on Russia's road to democracy but the logical extension and consequence of Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's despotism.