Russia"s transition to democracy : essays 11-18

The Russian translations will include a number of details particular to Russia that are not included in the English versions. In any event, these essays are predicated on the assumption that Russians know democracy only in superficial and sometimes inaccurate ways -- that they fail to appreciate the interrelationships of constitutional institutions, of extra-constitutional structures, and of the give-and-take of democratic process that sometimes seems chaotic to those unaccustomed to the interplay of these institutions and structures. Essay titles include the following. (1) Emergency Clauses: Essential Precaution or a Lack of Faith?; (2) A New Constitution: Should We Cut Trees to Even Print It?; (3) Should We Be Concerned With a New Constitution When We Are Hungry?; (4) What Is This Thing Called A "Fair and Competitive Election?; (5) Economics or Politics: Which is the Chicken and Which the Egg?; (6) Constitutions: Who Can and Should Write Them?; (7) Fools and Geniuses: What Are Voters Like in a Democracy?; (8) Can Russia Be a Democracy? (Author abstract)