The nature of political orientations - Дипломная работа

Introduction political behaviorism authoritarian syndrome Research question, aim and research tasks The master thesis concerned with contemporary perceptions of democracy among Russian and Chinese citizens. The research area include some fundamental components such as society political perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and value-orientations in emotional or psychological atmosphere of society. The topic deals with bachelor research about political orientations of Russian youth. The finding of the study brought some underlying ideas for current master thesis. Among them, the thesis attempts to provide comparative analyses of psychological climate in both Russian and Chinese societies. One of the most significant current discussions both in academic area and in public policy are concerned with prerequisites to democracy in non-democratic political regimes. The process of transition by society from any kind of non-democratic regime towards liberal democracy is defined as democratization or transition to democracy. In this aspect in political science, the definition of liberal democracy is formulated as “political system based on institutionalized and public competition among the political elites for the votes of the electorate with the object of achieving power and influence” [Urnov, 1965, P. 65]. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that the range of factors can become a threat to the formation of democracy. Investigating democratization is a continuing concern within factors which are influencing the existence and stability of democratization. In the theory of democratization, scholars are paying more attention to the importance of economic factors while the question of political culture (the perceptions toward democracy) as a crucial factor of stability of democratization is getting less attention among other factors. In addition to cultural and economic factors, there are indicators such as social-structural, technological, historical etc., which can be considered as an obstacle or a driver towards democratization. Although scientists claim that all this aspects are relatively independent, they still influence each other during the process of transition [Urnov, 2012, p. 65]. Thereby, it is almost impossible to define which factors are more important for the stability of democracy. However, cultural factors have one advantage. They reflect the common sense of real citizens, and it is almost impossible to change in short-term. Thus, it will be hard to create and save the stable democracy on the final phases of transition if population of the country is not willing to share value of liberal democracy. In the master thesis, cultural factors are used to describe the prospects of democratization in both non-democratic countries, China and Russia. The political regimes in these countries seem extremely different from each other. On the surface, Russia appears to be at the final stage of transition to the liberal democracy: there are democratic elections, the multiparty political system, the democratic constitution, and non-government organizations. Although Russia does not fit the definition of liberal democracy provided by Joseph Shumpeter (“free competition for a free vote”) [Schumpeter, 1944, P. 271], its political system is still far closer towards democracy on the transition spectrum then China. On the other hand, China seems to function as a classic communist one-party state. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been in power since 1949. The communist party restricted the advancement of civil societies, eliminated the authority of courts and prevented political protests [Jacobs, 1991]. Despite the political development of China and Russia has some common features that can made comparative analysis possible. Both countries can be characterized as transition societies, which are experiencing a long-term process of democratic transition after the challenges of non-democratic past in both countries. Besides, both countries are affected by Communist ideology: their perceptions and political orientations are moving towards similar direction. Although both Russia and China are ideologically close to each other, they have chosen extremely different mode of transitions. Russian citizens experienced the radical liberal reform in 1990s. As for China, the process of transition in this country is still going around the stage of being one-party communist state, which haven’t faced much shift towards democratization since 1989. Regarding to modern perceptions, it seems that both Russia and China have special relations with democratic values. Perceptions of democracy in both countries may be influenced by “authoritarian syndrome”. Common sense of the majority citizens in both countries are not ready to reject traditional values such as a desire for strong power and paternalism. In addition, the following tendency is to make the comparable analysis possible: Chinese public opinion has a better attitude to