Page "Democracy" Paragraph 37

Economic malaise in the 1980s, along with resentment of Soviet oppression, contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the associated end of the Cold War, and the democratization and liberalization of the former Eastern bloc countries.

The most successful of the new democracies were those geographically and culturally closest to western Europe, and they are now members or candidate members of the European Union.

Some researchers consider that contemporary Russia is not a true democracy and instead resembles a form of dictatorship.