SGER: Monitoring Political Change in the Soviet Union

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This award is supported through the Small Grants for Exploratory Research mechanism. The Soviet Union is experiencing unprecedented political reform. These reforms are producing corresponding changes in the relations between political institutions and the public. Because the individual citizen is playing an expanded civic role, survey research is essential for understanding the new politics emerging in the Soviet Union. This project entails research on political attitudes and political participation among the citizens in three Soviet republics: the Russian Federation, Estonia and the Ukraine. The study involves interviews with 1600 Soviet citizens and is conducted in cooperation with scholars from the Center for Political and International Studies in Moscow. It is critical that this research be done as soon as possible. Scholars have never before had an opportunity to study the democratization of a communist political system. Researchers must act quickly to establish a baseline measure of public opinion before too much change occurs. Moreover, if this project is delayed, future events, such as political turmoil, might make it impossible to conduct systematic rigorous surveys. All materials will be catalogued and archived for use by other social scientists interested in studying political change in the Soviet Union. The project should add considerably to our understanding of the democratization process in a communist political system.