Peter C. Ordeshook is professor of political science at the California Institute of Technology and has published widely in the areas of political theory, international relations, and Russian politics.
A review of The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991, by Martin Malia and Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil in Our Age, by Daniel Chirot.
The history of twentieth-century European communist parties shows that extremists can be moderated by robust democratic institutions. Without them, however, the inclusion of extremist parties may undermine democracy.
The 2005 elections were marked by massive fraud, but the democratic world mostly looked the other way. Azerbaijani society remains receptive to democracy, but the regime clearly has other plans—and…
