Russian Democracy in Eclipse: The Next Generation

The article profiles the next generation of young Russians, aged 18-35 and concludes that they are materially the best-off group of Russian ever. It explores their voting preferences and questions why they support President Putin in such large numbers. Their values and how far they have moved from Soviet ideals toward a Western mentality are described, as are the prospects for the new leaders from this generation. Even though they constitute the backbone of Russia’s rising middle-class, Putin's support of economic reform and the need to court the middle class electorate make it unlikely that political challenges to his leadership will come from this group for the foreseeable future.