Legal Orientations and the Rule of Law in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

The critical role that law and legal institutions play in establishing a successful democratic state is obvious in post-Soviet Russia. Seven years into Russia’s post-Soviet statehood, the prospects for ameliorating a range of frightening problems rest in one way or another on the functioning of the Russian legal system. During that same period, observers have paid the most attention to maintaining democratic institutions, the trials of economic change and the prospects for peace. Yet the proper functioning of Russia’s judicial system is essential to all three.