[p2p-research] People happier under Soviet-styled socialism?

[Andy Robinson]

Actually, I wonder if the current power-structure in Russian politics hasn't
been locked-in since Autumn 1993, the Parliament siege.  Which would suggest
a very brief opening to democratic forces, followed by a rapid takeover by a
recomposed elite.  I think (though I might be wrong) that this is how
dissidents such as Yelena Bonner theorise the situation.  If this is the
case, then the strongman political model preceded the massive sell-offs and
shock therapy.

If Putin manages to avoid blame for the disaster (which happened under
Yeltsin), he must be telling some pretty big fibs - he's a product of
exactly the same constellation of social forces.  Economically, though, I
get the impression that state/army patronage has been used to shore up the
crisis a little - not a stable solution, but one which may generate
temporary popularity.  I wonder how many of the border wars (Chechnya,
Georgia etc) are designed to distract attention from economic conditions.
And, I'd question how deep the approval of Putin is.  There's still
substantial electoral support for the Communists, and hard to know real
levels of support given the blatant vote-rigging (especially in the various
quasi-dependencies such as Kalmykia etc), not to mention the impact of media
bias.

In a lot of the other former eastern bloc countries, there is now a regular
transfer of power between the ex-communists (now some kind of
social-democrats) and the ex-capitalists (now usually
nationalist-conservatives).  Discontent with the transition led to an
initial surge in support for the ex-communists, who often regained power,
before electoral systems stabilised - though nationalism has become
something of a wild card too.
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