Economic Autonomy and Democracy
：Hybrid Regimes in Russia and Kyrgyzstan
Publication subTitle ：Hybrid Regimes in Russia and Kyrgyzstan
Author： Kelly M. McMann;
Publisher： Cambridge University Press
Publication year： 2006
E-ISBN: 9781316972106
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780521857611
P-ISBN(Hardback): 9780521857611
Subject： D521 political system
Keyword： 政治、法律
Language： ENG
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Description
This book examines how individuals decide to exercise their democratic rights, taking examples from Russia and Kyrgyzstan. In deciding whether to exercise their democratic rights, individuals first consider if they can risk government harassment at their workplaces. In this book, colorful accounts of activists' decisions and government harassment in Russia and Kyrgyzstan and examples from around the world illustrate this argument. In deciding whether to exercise their democratic rights, individuals first consider if they can risk government harassment at their workplaces. In this book, colorful accounts of activists' decisions and government harassment in Russia and Kyrgyzstan and examples from around the world illustrate this argument. How do individuals decide to exercise their democratic rights? This book argues that they first assess their economic autonomy, meaning their ability to make a living independent of government authorities. Before individuals consider whether their resources and organizational abilities are adequate to act on their interests, they calculate the risk of political activism to their livelihood. This is particularly evident in regions of the world where states monopolize the economy and thus can readily harass activists at their workplaces. Economic autonomy links capitalism and democracy through individuals' calculations about activism. Accounts of activists' decisions about establishing independent media, leading political organizations, and running for office and descriptions of government harassment in Russia and Kyrgyzstan, along with examples from most regions of the world, illustrate these arguments. Economic autonomy and the interaction among democratic rights help explain the global proliferation of hybrid regimes, governments that display both democratic and authoritarian characteristics. 1. Capitalism, democracy, and economic autonomy; 2. The concept of economic autonomy; 3. Measurement of democracy; 4. Activism under the state's thumb; 5. Illustrations of economic autonomy; 6. Hybrid regimes. Review of the hardback: 'The strength of this study lies rather on the firsthand and close-grained examination that it undertakes of the relationship, based on periods of fieldwork in both societies and on more than 200 interviews with activists as well as a wide range of other sources.' Europe-Asia Studies
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