Editor's Introduction
2003; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 41; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2753/rup1061-194041033
ISSN1558-0962
Autores Tópico(s)Law, Rights, and Freedoms
ResumoAttitudinal shifts toward personal liberties and contrasting perspectives on "freedom" form a common theme of several articles in this issue of Russian Politics and Law. At the liberal, not to say permissive, end of the spectrum are those communicating via the Internet, which many Americans have so come to take for granted that outages spark outrage. In the case of Russia, the Internet users are, as might be expected, more likely to be young, well-educated, and high-income than the general population. Moreover, Boris Vasil' evich Ovchinnikov reports in "Virtual Hopes: The State and Prospects of the Russian Internet's Political Sites" that half of all regular Internet users are to be found in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But of far more significant politically, 55 percent of users say that freedom is the most important factor in their lives. Internet communicators are also far more likely to support the liberal democratic party Yabloko than the overall public. The bad news, however, is that only 1 percent of users turn to the Internet's political sites, reflecting, probably, general political apathy. "Virtual Hopes" is also useful as a guide to Russia's Internet sites. One oddity, from an American standpoint, is that there is no reference to use of the Internet to monitor, research, or participate in markets, such as that for common stocks (much less auction commerce).
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