'..repression against the opposition .. suicidal strategy. Russia's history in the twentieth century confirms it. Sooner or later the authorities who implement that kind of policy end up without a reliable base of support. The 300-year-old Romanov dynasty found itself it that position on February 28, 1917.'<blockquote>'..It is not hard to be popular and have political support when you have ten years of growth of real income at 10 percent a year. When the real income, influenced by vacillations in world markets, stops growing, unemployment increases, and the situation in depressed regions grows volatile, the regime has alternative strategies. The first is to increase repression against the opposition. That is the tempting but suicidal strategy. Russia's history in the twentieth century confirms it. Sooner or later the authorities who implement that kind of policy end up without a reliable base of support. The 300-year-old Romanov dynasty found itself it that position on February 28, 1917.
The second variant is a regulated liberalization of the regime, the restoration of real freedom of speech, the separation of powers, an independent judicial system, an open mechanism of government decision making, and an effective war on corruption. That is not an easy path. But world experience shows that it can be taken. Evidence is provided by Spain after Franco, Taiwan once the Kuomintang realized it could not rule the country with methods imported from the Soviet Union, and Chile. They required difficult solutions. But where the ruling elite was able to realize this policy, it led to positive results and averted a catastrophe. I think our elite can learn a lesson from it.'
- Yegor Gaidar,
Russia: A Long View, page 377</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>'Simply the best intro to the modern era as a result of historic progress..'
- Bridger Bukantis, review of Russia: A Long View,
Essential Reading, June 29, 2014
'..to redouble its support for a sovereign, prosperous and democratic Ukraine.'</blockquote>