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Excerpt
Structure vs. Choice. Steven Levitsky, October 2014, Opinion. "The essays by Ghia Nodia and Jakob Tolstrup suggest that our focus on the structural character of linkage and leverage needs to be tempered by greater attention to the role of leadership and contingency in the success of democracy in the former Soviet Union. While we agree that policy choice can sometimes affect democratization and the strength of ties to the West, it generally does so only within certain structural parameters. Leadership matters much less at the extremes of high and low linkage..." Link Verified October 29, 2014