Promoting Democracy And Human Rights In Russia (basees/routledge Series On Russian And East European Studies)

European regional organisations have spent significant amount of time, energy and money in supporting Russia's transition towards the western liberal-democratic model since the end of the cold war. This book explores the role the Council of Europe, European Union and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have played in Russia's post-Soviet transition in the field of human rights and democracy. The book argues that the organisations have played an important initial role in setting the reform agenda and in providing a general framework for interaction in the field of human rights and democracy. However, since the mid-1990s the impact of regional organisations has been slipping. Lately Russia has challenged the European human rights and democracy norms and now it threatens the whole framework for regional normative cooperation. Russia's attitude towards western liberal order has become more assertive and its defiance increasingly concerted even internationally. The main finding is that democracy and human rights promotion is not a one-way transference of norms like much of the theoretical literature and European practices presume. The Russian case demonstrates that the so-called target state can influence the norm promoters and the interpretation of the norms in a fundamental way. This is a finding that has significant implications both for theory and practice. The author discusses how various international organisations, including the European Union, successfully promoted in Russia common European norms of human rights and democracy, with Russia cooperating fully in the process, but how, more recently, Russia has begun to challenge these norms, moving towards semi-authoritarianism. This book discusses how various international organisations, including the European Union, successfully promoted in Russia common European norms of human rights and democracy, with Russia co-operating fully in the process, but how, more recently, Russia has begun to challenge these norms, moving towards semi-authoritarianism. The European Framework For Normative Cooperation -- Norm Of A Human Rights Ombudsman -- Norm Of Abolition Of The Death Penalty -- Norm Of Free And Fair Democratic Elections -- Implications For Theory And Practice. Sinikukka Saari. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Initial hopes that after the fall of the Soviet Union democracy and human rights would flourish strongly in Russia have begun to fade. This book explores what went wrong in Russia and why