“Demokratiya had become cheap and cruel: a buzzword the government sells with a sneer as the mafia state shakes you down; a lure NGOs peddle as they promise to solve your problems without hearing what they are. Demokratiya was a sign that someone did not have your back unless they were painting a target on it. The word is still viewed that way in many states of the former Soviet Union that proclaimed themselves “democracies” while remaining dictatorships.”
Sarah Kendzior, Out of Words, describing how many people in former Soviet states (and probably others) feel about Western preaching about democracy.
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