Avtoritarnaia Rossiia. Begstvo ot svobody, ili pochemu [Authoritarian Russia]

Democracy does not guarantee citizens that they will live better. But it helps to reduce the risks that, in an autocracy, they will suffer from the arbitrariness of corrupt rulers who violate their rights, while not having the opportunity for peaceful power. Why and how exactly has Russia over the past three decades moved from the communist regime not to democracy, but to a new personalist authoritarianism? Post-communist Russia failed to cope with the 'dilemma of simultaneity' - the need to solve the problems of democratization, to carry out market reforms and the national state structure of the country. Low citizen involvement in politics helped Russian political actors build an authoritarian regime and concentrate power in their hands. Will our country be able to overcome these problems and take the path of developing political and civil freedoms, or is this path closed to it for many decades?