Patience, people, patience!

There is a lot of pessimism at the slow pace of political change following the “Arab Spring” and the recent protests in Russia. “The SCAF is still in power!”, some shriek. “Putin is still running for president!”, others howl. People, please be patient. It’s only been one year – and much less than that in Russia. Democratic transitions often are long, circuitous, and prone to setbacks. South Africa’s democratic transition took close to one decade, for example. Four years elapsed between Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and South Africa’s first democratic election. So please folks be patient. Change is coming.