Mass opposition to the Soviet putsch of August 1991: collective action, rational choice, and democratic values in the former Soviet Union.

Russians exhibited mass opposition to the attempted coup d'etat in the former Soviet Union in Aug 1991. This collective action could be attributed to the desire of Russians for a democratic society. Such action was a manifestation of rational choice among the people who believed that an alternative to previous political set-up could be beneficial and would entail satisfaction among the citizens. The mass opposition revealed that a democratic political society was continuously developing in the former communist country.

On August 19, 1991, a small band of leaders of the Soviet Union attempted a ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.