Economic Autonomy and Democracy: Hybrid Regimes in Russia and
Kyrgyzstan. By Kelly M. McMann. New York: Cambridge University Press,
2006. 259p. $75.00.
Kelly M. McMann's work is a welcome addition to the burgeoning
literature on democracy and democratization with the discussion of a new
form of government, namely the hybrid regime. McMann uses a
multidimensional approach to understand a complex and conceptually messy
issue: democratic participation. Like other scholars, she uses this hybrid
regime framework, which has been described as containing both democratic
and authoritarian elements (e.g., see Larry J. Diamond, “Thinking
about Hybrid Regimes,” Journal of Democracy 13 [April
2002]: 21–35). Her work is a significant contribution to the
understanding of how formerly transitional governments currently operate
in relation to citizens and citizen political participation. Utilizing the
hybrid regime concept illustrates the true nature of such regimes to the
same degree that the terms “electoral,” “minimal,”
“illiberal” democracies and “transitional” regimes
obfuscate it. Perhaps regimes such as those in Russia and Kyrgyzstan have
completed their transitions—to some combination of democratic and
authoritarian elements, rather than to liberal democracy.