Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Broken Windows Theory Explains What is Going On in Russian Cities, ‘PolitSovet’ Suggests

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Jan. 24 – There are three kinds of social problems in Russia; those that are typical of all industrialized and urbanized societies, those that are unique to Russia, and those that are common to industrialized and urbanized societies but have a different set of consequences in Russia.
    The third kind is the most interesting but its existence is often ignored. Yekaterinburg’s PolitSovet portal provides a useful counterweight to that in a discussion of the failure of police to do anything about people who park their cars illegally on sidewalks in the central portion of that Siberian city (politsovet.ru/83177-teoriya-razbityh-okon-v-centre-ekaterinburga.html).
    Drawing on James Q. Wilson’s theory of broken windows which holds that small violations of public order lead to a general worsening of the criminological situation, the portal’s authors say that drivers in Yekaterinburg are providing a potential confirmation of that theory’s conclusion.
“Some time ago,” they write, “drivers for some reason decided that they could park on sidewalks. At first, only a few did so; and then when it became clear that no one would stop them or punish them, the sidewalks in the central part of the city were finally transformed into parking lots.”
Initially, some drivers who knew what they were doing was wrong hid their license plates, but very soon, they stopped doing so once it became obvious that the chances of their being punished were close to nil, a decision that was hastened because these cars were in the elite districts of the city and not in poorer areas.
“What conclusions should residents observing this picture draw?” PolitSovet asks rhetorically. “First, that no one is looking after order in the center of town. Second, that pedestrians in Yekaterinburg are second class citizens compared to drivers. And third – if ‘the best people of the city’ are openly violating the rules, then why shouldn’t everyone else?”
If Wilson’s broken windows theory is correct, the writers say, “then after a time, the absence of order regarding parking should lead t a general decline in order in the center of the city. We will observe to see whether this rule is confirmed,” they promise.

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