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Svetlana Levanova, gr. 512

Democracy as I See It Exercised in Russia

Essay

Life has changed entirely in Russia since the beginning of the nineties, when democracy as the state’s policy was introduced. Not only lifestyles, fashions and technologies were changed but also there was a turnover in people’s mentality.
We, the generation, which was born in the 70ies – early 80ies, witnessed a great fracture in the whole system of life. We experienced the break in our minds, viewpoints and attitudes, but we are the generation to build up new Russia from its cornerstone.
Russia today is a materialistic society. Sociologists say that a materialistic society is one in which material possessions are important. People are concerned about financial well-being and security or even physical survival. Various hardships, first of all economic, coerced Russians into fighting for survival, caring only about most essential things for life. Such democratic values as, say, inalienable rights are not relevant for discussion among those who do not have money to buy some bread. If someone takes advantage of the right of speech and enjoys it to the full, if this person states his or her disagreement with the boss’s point of view on some subject, he or she will be fired immediately and join the army of the unemployed. The unemployed in Russia differ from those in the USA who can live off welfare and sometimes be quite satisfied with their actual status. In Russia unemployment is synonymous with poverty and hopelessness.
As soon as the new state policy was introduced it began to cause a shift in values. Not much changed in universal values such as family, work or leisure, whereas the newly borrowed democratic ideas were somewhat perverted. Due to the cultural factor, peculiarities of Russia’s historical development and current economic situation people adopted democratic principles and customized every item on the list to their needs and cultural level.
One can sometimes hear an opinion that we live in a democracy so we are free to do whatever we want, meaning that democracy entitles people to unlimited liberties. This erroneous proposition finds its root in political ignorance. Sovereigns have always governed the Russian people; first they were czars then communist tyrants. Most of them were charismatic personalities able to keep the whole country under their iron hand. Totalitarian regime implied regimentation of every aspect of life. Ideology, economy and even people’s everyday routine were supervised. Russians were deprived of the opportunity to judge, make personal decisions and express their grievances. It resulted in political passiveness and lack of any interest in political procedures.
In early nineties census data displays a great leap of interest and involvement among Russians. It was normal that people spent leisure time watching TV programs about politicians or live broadcasts from

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