The point that I will be arguing in my paper is, that the rapid economic and governmental changes brought on through "shock therapy" has contributed to the decline of democracy in Russia. I plan to begin my argument around the late 1980s and continue on to the present. My argument would consist of the economic, social and governmental perspectives. How "shock therapy" failed and how under the current regime Russia's quasi-democracy is further disintegrating.
My research project seems to be coming along slowly for now, simply because I am researching the economic side of my argument first. The reading is relatively dry, but that was to be expected. I will next begin researching the effects rapid democratization had on Russia during the first years after Communism fell.
I like this topic, it really seems like it has the potential to be interesting! Especially considering that Russia has a significant amount of nuclear weapons.
ReplyDeleteOne way I think you can increase the persuasiveness of your argument is to rule out the possibility that either Autocracy or Oligarchy led to Russia adopting those rapid economic and governmental changes.
If you can argue that "shock therapy" caused the emergence of Autoracy/Oligarchy, especially with regards to Putin's level of power- rather than the other way around, you should be set.
I found these two links about Shock Therapy and Russia, maybe they can be helpful:
ReplyDelete- http://www.davidson.edu/academic/economics/foley/eco232_f03/Murrell%20What%20is%20Shock%20Therapy.pdf
- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974758,00.html