POLITICAL-CULTURE IN RUSSIA

The future course of international developments depend to a considerable degree on the path Russia takes following its liberation from the Soviet system. Democracy, the rule of law and a marker economy, which initially appeared to be the country's new ideals, are now controversial A political culture which has evolved over the centuries and which is characterised by features which differ to a large extent from those in the West plays a major role. This not only comprises a formative religious influence, which emanated from Constantinople - rather than Rome - and which also gave the worldly power a spiritual consecration, enabling the rulers in Moscow to demand total and unreserved loyalty from their subjects Rr Gerhard Simon, Director of Studies on Domestic Politics and Structures in Eastern Europe and International Studies in Cologne, explains, Russian traditions differ in many respects from the cultural background which led to the evolution of the democratic-liberal system in the West. At the same time, however, there are now signs of a Western-style development.