Political Involvement of Citizens in Belarus and Ukraine: A Comparison with Russia, Moldova and the Baltic States

This paper analyses core elements of political culture in post-Soviet Eurasia in the two decades between 1991 and 2010. It compares political transformations in transition countries along the continuum between authoritarian and democratic regimes in the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991. It provides a general overview of findings on political support across certain post-communist nations by ordering them from most basic to more specific form of support. The broadest base of support is support for the political community, the next considered level is support for the democratic regime. The last two more specific levels are confidence in parliaments and confidence is expressed for political parties. Post-Soviet countries considered in the paper are Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. WVS 1995, 2005, 2010 and EVS 2000, 2008 surveys are used as empirical basis of the analysis.