In Moscow in the early spring and summer of 1997, a colleague and I asked experts to rate regions according to Dahl's definition of democracy. I conducted a similar survey in Bishkek in May 1997. This appendix describes the selection process for the respondents, the structure of the surveys, the validity and reliability of the results, and the results themselves.

RESPONDENTS

Twenty-six experts in Russia completed the survey, and 23 respondents filled out the questionnaire in Kyrgyzstan. The respondents from Russia included representatives of universities and research centers in Moscow, members of the Russian presidential administration and the Federation Council, and foreign scholars residing in Moscow at the time of the survey. The Kyrgyzstani experts were members of universities and research centers in Bishkek and staff in the administrations of the president and prime minister.

I used a snowball sample to select respondents in each country because there is no defined group of experts on regional politics and, as a group, experts are more difficult to reach than other populations, such as the public. The snowball sample was generated as follows: I worked with a local scholar of regional politics in each country to create an initial list of regional experts, and in the questionnaires I then asked respondents to suggest additional experts. My colleagues and I distributed the survey to those recommended according to a number of conditions.