Article by HSE Researchers Published in ‘Russian Politics and Law’

An article by Andrei Melville,  Denis Stukal and Mikhail Mironyuk ‘King of the Mountain’, or Why Postcommunist Autocracies Have Bad Institutions’ was published in the U.S. journal Russian Politics and Law (vol. 52, no. 2, March-April 2014, pp. 7-29).

In the article, the authors analyze the levels of democracy and state capacity (including quality of institutions) in postcommunist countries over the past two decades and consider the theoretical implications of the relationship between these variables. The researchers cast serious doubt on the general validity of the J-curve hypothesis. In the article they present and explain their own informal ‘king of the mountain’ model.

Russian Politics and Law is a bimonthly journal that publishes translations of significant research articles, usually from Russian publications in politics, law, public administration, and other related fields. Selections are drawn from both print and electronic sources, as well as from previously unpublished works.

 Read the article (PDF, 688 Кб)