Capitalism, democracy losing favor in ex-Soviet bloc: poll
Nov 2 04:13 PM US/Eastern
Capitalism and democracy have lost popularity in the former Soviet republics of Eastern and Central Europe, where many people felt better off economically under communism, a poll showed Monday.
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, research by the Pew Research Center showed the percentage of people approving of democracy was markedly lower in the former Soviet bloc compared to a similar 1991 poll.
The biggest change was in Ukraine where there was a massive 42 percent drop in support: Only 30 percent of Ukrainians asked said they now approved of the change to the multiparty system, down from 72 percent in 1991.
Eighty-five percent of respondents in East Germany supported the change to democracy, but even this was down six percent from 1991. The figure dropped 24 percent in Bulgaria, 20 in Lithuania, 18 in Hungary and eight in Russia.
Poland and Slovakia bucked the trend with four percent and one percent rises in approval for democracy respectively.
Similar disenchantment with capitalism was in evidence. The share of those now approving of the change to a market economy plummeted 34 percent in Hungary and 26 percent in Lithuania.
Ukrainian respondents gave capitalism the lowest approval rating, with only 36 percent saying they approved, down 16 percent from 1991.
Only the Poles (47 percent) and the Czech (45 percent) said the economic situation was better today than under communism, and as many as 72 percent in Hungary said they believed the opposite was true.
Despite those figures, most countries generally looked back approvingly on the collapse of communism, and the percentage of people satisfied with life rose across the board with the exception of West Germany.
Membership of the European Union was widely seen as positive, except in Hungary. NATO was also popular apart from in Ukraine and in Russia, where 59 percent said they have a negative opinion of the military alliance.
Russia was considered by all countries except Bulgaria and Ukraine to be exerting a negative influence.
A large majority of Russians said they felt the end of the Soviet Union was a "great misfortune" and nearly half, 47 percent, agreed it was "natural" for Russia to have an empire.
The poll, conducted between August 27 and September 24, surveyed around 1,000 people in each country. |
