The political exclusion and commodification of women - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 256

to the term 'democracy': 'democratization'. Huntington identifies tensions
involved in processes of 'democratization' which include both obstacles as well
as forces for democracy, such as politics (particularly when there is a lack of
experience with democracy in the past), economics (such factors as poverty and
economic development) and culture (attitudes, values, beliefs and patterns of
behaviour existing within the society before the process of democratization)
(Huntington 1991). Huntington's words reflect the insights of other scholars
who examined the transformation of the Soviet Union as it moved towards
democracy: 'after all, democracy is more than a set of political institutions;
it requires sustenance from a myriad of political, social, legal, and economic
values resident in the hearts and minds of the ordinary members of the polity'
(Gibson et al . 1992:330). Consequently, it is logical to say that 'democracy' is
an ongoing project that is actualized by the process of formation and is based
on 'the rule for law, the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and
respect for individual initiative and human rights' (Lukin 1999:39).
Liberalism
At this point it is valuable to draw on a broad tradition of theory, that of liber-
alism. Liberalism and theories of democracy have much in common, although
it is incorrect to equate the two. Processes of liberalism that will be elucidated
below can be seen to interact with processes of democracy, which I argue is
relevant to our understanding of the development of attitudes and political
action that has taken place in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. As pre-
viously mentioned, democracy provides the necessary conditions for personal
freedom, rights and liberties. Inclusion of all citizens gives them an opportu-
nity to 'shape your life in accordance with your own goals, preferences, tastes,
values, commitments, beliefs' (Dahl 1998:52). Within the body of liberal-
democratic theory, the free individual is acknowledged as an independent
actor. Therefore, there may be a tendency to use 'liberalism' as a synonym for
'democracy'. Dahl stressed that although liberalism has contributed to the
development of democratic theory, it would be wrong to substitute the notion
of democracy with that of liberalism, confirmed by Carter and Stokes:
There is a historic tension between the ideals of liberalism and those of
democracy. Classical liberalism stresses the importance of individual and
minority rights, the rule of law and constitutional limits on government
power. Democracy, on the other hand, places more emphasis upon popu-
lar participation and popular sovereignty .
(1998:2-3)
Liberalism is defined as a particular set of social and political attitudes
and values. Doyle writes: 'there is no canonical description of Liberalism'
(Doyle 1986:1152, quoted by Keohane 1990:173). For the purpose of the