Constraining Elites in Russia and Indonesia: Political Participation and Regime Survival
This is a thought provoking analysis on why democracy succeeds in some countries but not others, comparing the post transition experiences of two cases of contemporary democratisation: Russia and Indonesia. Following authoritarian regimes, democracy eroded in Russia but flourished in Indonesia so confounding dominant theories of democratisation that predicted the opposite outcomes based on their levels of socioeconomic development and histories of statehood. Identifying key behaviours and patterns of political participation as a factor, Lussier interweaves ethnographic interview and quantitative public opinion data to expand our understanding on how mass political participation contributes to a democracy's survival. The integration of both micro and macro level data in a single study is one of this project's most significant contributions, and will enhance its appeal to both researchers and instructors.