Soviet Citizen Participation on the Eve of Democratization

• Published in: The American political science review Vol. 84; no. 3; pp. 821 - 847
• Main Authors: Bahry, Donna, Silver, Brian D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.09.1990; The American Political Science Association; American Political Science Association
• Subjects: ACTIVISM; Citizen participation; CITIZENSHIP; Democracy; Democratization; Factor analysis; History; Housing; Labor unions; Political activism; Political attitudes; POLITICAL BEHAVIOR; Political Participation; Political parties; Political science; Russian politics; U.S.S.R; UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS; USSR; Voting; Union of Soviet Socialist Republics > USSR; Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
• ISSN: 0003-0554; 1537-5943
• DOI: 10.2307/1962768

We reassess the debate over Soviet citizen politics in the USSR during the Brezhnev era. We argue the need for a more complex model of citizen participation in the USSR before Gorbachev if we are to have an accurate baseline for evaluating changes in regime-society relations. We examine the connections between individual attitudes and individual behavior and show that political participation under the “old regime” was not nearly as one-dimensional and devoid of effect as many previous researchers (and current Soviet leaders) have described it. Many forms of political participation in the Soviet Union before Gorbachev did not fit the stereotype of a psychologically disengaged citizenry driven to participate only by coercion, a desire to conform, or a quest for particularized benefits from public officials.