I know this kind of question has probably been done to death, but its something that I've been thinking about for a bit. The idea of a truly democratic Russia and its impact on the world fascinates me and while there are a number of ways this could be achieved, a surviving Russian Republic is one I want to focus on here. I honestly can't think of a proper POD that is required for the republic to survive so forgive me if this sounds half baked , but let's just say that Lenin (any maybe other prominent bolsheviks) die before they get the chance to spark the October revolution and the Kerensky government doesn't flounder its own chances. Let's also say that it doesn't descend into fascism/authoritarianism in the coming years.
- What does the government of the republic look like? Does it resemble anything like the current Russian government just with some actual democratic institutions or is it something more radical?
- What do the borders of the republic look like? Would it be anymore successful than the soviets were in retaining the former empire's territories? less so? about the same?
- What about Russian society and culture? How different would that look without the preeminence of the CPSU?