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Observing Russia
Political sciences' Joel Moses looks at problems former Soviet republics
have transforming into democracies.
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Long before the Soviet Union broke up, Joel Moses, professor of political
science, was looking at the prospect of political change in that superpower.
But in the last decade or so, Moses' research has reached a new zenith
as the former Soviet republics have started to make strides to become
democracies.
Moses, who has taught for the past 30 years at Iowa State, is the author
of several recent publications on various aspects of contemporary Russian
politics and government. In particular he is looking at the problems of
Russia's transition to democracy over the past decade.
Among his recent publications are:
*An article, "Political-Economic Elites and Russia Regional Elections,
1999-2000" in the September 2002 issue of Europe-Asia Studies.
* A chapter, "Russia's Struggle for Democracy," in the 2003
book edited by Stephen Wegren, Russia's Policy Challenges: Security,
Stability and Development.
* A book Moses edited that will be published in 2003, Dilemmas of Transition
in Post-Soviet Countries. Moses also wrote the introductory chapter
in that publication.
Moses describes Dilemmas of Transition in Post-Soviet Countries
as a "wide-ranging overview of the problems facing the former Soviet
republics' privatization, democratization, foreign investment, agrarian
reform, local governance, and market economics and the tensions arising
from this era of transition."
"There are four major challenges each of the former Soviet republics
faces in nation building," he said. "All four have to be synchronized
for the countries to be successful. If there is too big of a commitment
to one challenge, then it is going to reduce the odds of the success of
the other three.
"This is a major thesis of the book. The uniqueness of transformation
of these countries is different from any other countries in the former
Soviet Bloc."
Challenges the former Soviet republics face include justifying themselves
as a nation to their citizens. The new governments have also had to create
new, stable political institutions within their countries. Then those
institutions must reflect democratic principles.
But the most important and sometimes, most difficult challenge facing
the former Soviet republics is economic transformation. The economy of
the Soviet Union was totally nationalized with no private ownership or
private sector.
"This last challenge has created problems for governments in meeting
the other three challenges,” Moses said. “Right now the Russian
economy is half of what it was in 1991. There is massive poverty with
estimates of 40% of the population living below the poverty line.
“Because of the economic hardships in Russia, in the short run there
has been great resentment against democracy and economic privatization."
Of the 15 new countries established from the former Soviet Union, Moses
says only the Baltic states have been successful in meeting these challenges.
Most others, like Russia, have concentrated on economic reform, which
has made the countries' transition to democracy extremely shaky at best.
The success of the Baltic states and other countries (such as Poland,
the Czech Republic, etc.) came about because they didn’t have problems
in nation building.
"The other 12 countries never existed in the modern era before.
There was no such country as Russia," Moses said. "But it is
remarkable how much progress they have made in the past 12 years because
of the very difficult challenges they have faced.
"Up until less than 15 years ago, everything in the Soviet Union
was concentrated solely in the Communist Party," he continued. "Once
that trust is eliminated, a void is created and it is going to take time
to fill that void."
Around LAS
April 7-27, 2003
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