COMPARING CITIZEN AND ELITE BELIEF SYSTEMS IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA AND UKRAINE

No previous research has systematically compared the policy preference s and attitudinal constraint of elites and ordinary citizens in societ ies undergoing a fundamental change in the form of the government and the economic system. This article utilizes directly comparable survey questions asked of a representative sample of citizens and their parli amentary representatives in two post-Soviet countries, Russia and Ukra ine, to determine the degree of similarity that existed in the attitud inal preferences and ideological consistency of these two sets of poli tical actors 6 months after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The leve l of attitude consistency and ideological thinking among ordinary citi zens was found to be unexpectedly high, thereby reflecting the degree of politicization occurring during the period immediately preceding th e Soviet disintegration. Relative to other studies of elites, however, the attitude constraint among the elites was unexpectedly low. This u nexpected finding is explained by the absence of various institutions and arrangements that promote consistent attitudes among elites in wes tern democracies, such as functioning political parties, lobby groups, and an investigatory media.