Conceptualising democracy within the post-Soviet setting

A typology of political regime forms

Abstract

As regards the democratic potential of the former Soviet states, the scholarly community was divided into an optimistic and a pessimistic camp when communism broke down in 1989-1991. Almost one-and-a-half decade later, neither of these camps’ predictions have been confirmed. Instead, hybrid regimes – combining pluralistic and authoritarian traits – have seized the day in the post-Soviet realms. The study of regime change has had a hard time grasping this political phenomenon conceptually. In order to pave the way for empirical research, it is necessary to deal a new deck of cards, to revisit the definitions of democracy with the actual transition processes in mind. The present paper aims to do precisely this. Emphasising both the electoral and the liberal component of democracy, with assistance from classic and contemporary authors, the paper arrives at a fourfold typology of the political regime form. This typology, and the conceptualisation it rests on, is logically exhaustive and able to set dissimilar countries apart. Hence, it provides a useful point of departure for elucidating the post-Soviet transition processes empirically