This dissertation addresses the conflictual relationship between capitalism and democracy, by tracing the problematic transformation that post-Soviet Russia experienced during the era of the Yeltsin regime. I focus upon the institutional space of petroleum trade unions in the Khanty-Mansisk region of Western Siberia. Trade unions were developed in twentieth-century Russia in response to the Soviet planned economy, and served a mediating role between communities and industry. This role was entrenched in Khanty-Mansisk, where a group of local communities were developed in the 1960s for the purpose of oil extraction. Through an examination of the political culture and history of the region up to and including the immediate post-Soviet transition, this dissertation addresses how historical and contemporary political and economic experiences impacted local efforts to participate in the politics of post-Soviet life; the institutional history of trade unions in Tyumen's oil communities, and how trade unions responded to the new imperatives of a liberal market and the global economy; the manner in which the process of privatisation and the August 1998 rouble collapse mitigated against a participatory democracy; and how the post-Soviet transition to a market economy converged into a Western-supported superpresidentialism, a new style of authoritarian Russian rule which once again demobilised the population at large and fostered a 'politics of irresponsibility' on the part of the Yeltsin regime.;In addition to scholars concerned with democratic processes in polities in transition, this work will be of interest to individuals concerned with Russian trade unions, Western Siberian economic and social history, and Russia's experience with modernisation, particularly as it coincides with global liberal modernising processes.
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