Why do you say that?

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historically the country had very few, if any, working "check and balances" mechanisms/institutions, therefore it was and still is relatively easy for its authoritarian rulers and their entourage to change the social environment.

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Like the Russian government employing people to spy on the citizenry of Moscow?

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not really. this spying is a relatively minor episode.

i meant more significant social upheavals, e.g. very recently (91) the failed coup de taut (sp?), default (mid-late nineties), overall economic policies, etc...
now, if you look back into the time of tzars and soviet leaders you'll find completely outrageous decisions to persecute large groups of people, boneheaded economic and political reforms, violent transitions from one ruler to the next, and etc.

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