Yuri A. Levada is director of the Yuri Levada Analytical Center for opinion polling. He was head of the state-owned but independent All-Russian Center for Public Opinion and Market Research (VTsIOM) until the Russian government took it over by force in September 2003. At that time Levada and his staff set up the private polling agency VTsIOM-A, now known as the Levada Center. The following essay was translated from the Russian by Alex Campbell.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
The first flush of democratic hopes has faded, as the recent elections have emphasized. But the democratic idea has a foothold, and the presidential machine that swept those elections will not have an easy time retaining its sway.
