Dimensions of Disengagement in Post-Communist Russia

Russians themselves have taken a less positive view. Asked to consider the changes that have taken place since 1991, a large proportion of ordinary Russians think it has become much easier to practise a religion, to join any organization they wish, to speak their mind, and to travel and live wherever they wish. Among the most fundamental attributes of a pluralist political order is trust in civic institutions, and indeed in other citizens. Russians took broadly the same view in our own survey, which was fielded in the spring of 2001. As before, there was most confidence in the Church and the armed forces, which have articulated the interests of the whole nation for hundreds of years. Russians, similarly, were less likely than their counterparts to believe elections offered ordinary people an opportunity to influence the way in which the country was governed.