The Russian Federation

1
The Russian Federation
2
Russia

• Eurasia (10 time zones) 1.8 times the territory
  of the US
• Secular tradition of authoritarianism, police
  state, and violence against the poor, minorities,
  and peasants.
• Multiple ethnic groups
• Rich in natural resources (oil minerals) in
  Siberia.

3
Historical Overview

• ? Western Europe (Late Absolutism serfdom and
  slavery)
• Markets glued ? Despotic power glued Russia
• Western Europe nomads and free peasants
• Roots in the Muscovite state (12th century)
• Tsars (Ivan the TerribleAbsolutist monarchs)
• 18th century Russian Enlightenment Saint
  Petersburg (thousands die in building the city in
  a swamp)
• Precursors in matters of political secret police

4
19th Centurys Failed Liberalization

• Alexander Is attempt of reform stopped by
  Napoleonic wars. Alexanders death in 1825
  (problems of succession) Liberal reform crushed.
• Nicholas I (anti-modern, anti- Enlightenment),
  dies in the Crimean war (1853-56). Russian
  defeat. Nicholas I dies in the war
• Alexander II Time of (Limited) Reform
• Liberation of serfs (1871), allows regional
  assemblies, encourages industrialization (but
  opposes a constitutional regime). Assassinated in
  1881
• (Russian traditions political police, political
  repression, and anarchism)

5
The Last Absolutist State

• Alexander III renewed political repression (15
  years)
• Nicholas II Bloody Sunday (father Gapon) 1905
  Revolution
• Sergei Eisensteins October
• The tsar promises civil liberties and a
  legislature (the Duma)
• 1914 Russia enters WWI
• 1917 riots lead to the Revolution in February
  (Lenins April Theses). Moderate government
  (Liberal/Socialist) led by Kerensky. Brief
  experience with Liberal democracy
• 1917 (October) revolution. Radicalization of the
  revolution (Bolsheviks). Lenins leadership
• Communist Party of Soviet 60 Union (CPSU), also
  known as the Bolschevik Party. Centralized and
  authoritarian party organized by Lenin
  (Vanguard).
• Lenin's New Economic Policy mixed system
  controlled by the govt. with participation of
  small private companies. Economic growth.

6
Stalinism/Totalitarianism

• 1924 Lenin's death ? Stalin (Central planning)
  Major and fast industrialization of the country ?
  Collectivization (state farms) (20,000,000 die)
  and Purges (1937)
• Totalitarian regime. The Bolschevik Party
  dominated all aspects of society and the economy.
  
• Partys ties with the government and KGB
  (security police, an essential instrument of
  partys domination)
• Police State
• Chronology of the Soviet Period

7
Main (Political?) Institutions

• For traditional Marxism, politics is a tool of
  class domination, and parliamentary arrangements
  and political parties represent different class
  alliances
• No need for politics, parties (or the state) in a
  classless society.
• Soviets (All-Russia Congress of Soviets of
  Workers', Peasants, Cossacks' and Red Army
  Soldiers' Deputies) and the Congress of Soviets
  within a Federation.
• Age of suffrage 18. Vote for representatives of
  the local soviet (every 2½ years).
  Representatives choose the highest authorities
  (Central Committee)
• Politburo (policy authority)
• Partocracy absolute overlap between party and
  state
• 300,000 officials (Top leadership Individuals or
  oligarchies)
• De facto authority of the General Secretary of
  the Communist Party after Stalin (elected by the
  Central Committee).

8
Culture or Institutions?

• Soviets on paper
• Soviets (?) in reality
• How far can we go in transforming patterns of
  political culture?

9
From Stalin to Gorbachev

• 1953 Stalins death.
• Krushnevs 1954 speech denouncing Stalins crimes
• Khrushchev/Brezhnev/Andropov/Chernenko/Gorbachev
  
• Attempts of reform
• Mid-1980s Glasnost (openness) and perestroika.
  Party secretary-general Gorbachev followed
  Krushnevs attempts. Goal to make Soviet
  socialism more modern and efficient and to give a
  voice to Soviet citizens. Steps
• 1-Traditional Soviet Methods
• 2-Glasnost and democratization
• 3-Programs of Reform
• 4-Multiple demands of reformCrisis
• Pandoras box
• Gorbachev creates a presidential system and
  becomes President (March 1990)

10
Yeltsin

• 1989-91 Yeltsin gains support in Moscow
• June 1991, Yeltsin becomes President of the
  Russian Republic (and begins disputing power to
  Gorbachev)
• Five republics claim independence
• Gorbachev intends to (re)create a Union
• August 1991 (Russian) Attempt of military coup
  leads to Gorbachevs abandoning government and a
  collapse of the Soviet Union ? chaotic transition
• Birth of the Russian Federation (December 1991)

11
Russian Reforms

• "Shock Therapy" (opposed by parliament and the
  vice-president)
• Modern markets or "economic genocide?

12
1992 Yeltsin Vs. the Parliament

• A new type of government?
• Yeltsin a strong presidency ( Frances Fifth
  Republic)
• Parliament parliamentary system
• Stalemate Yeltsins rule by decree
• April 1993 Referendum (Yeltsin or the
  Parliament? Yeltsin won for 59 with a turnout of
  only 39, a result deemed illegal by the
  Constitutional Court)
• Yeltsin ordered the dissolution of the Congress
  and the Supreme Soviet (declared illegal by the
  Constitutional Court), suspended the Constitution
  and called for elections for a new parliament,
  the State Duma, and a referendum to vote for his
  own project of Constitution
• The Parliament asked the military for support
  against Yeltsin designated President Rutskoi
  (vice president)
• Yeltsin sent troops against the Parliament (150
  deaths, 1,000 wounded, 2,000 jailed)

13
Yeltsins Hegemony

• Authoritarian rule
• Banned opposition
• Removal of members of the Constitutional Court
  and provincial leaders who opposed dissolving the
  Parliament
• Call for parliamentary elections on December 1993
  (triumph of Yeltsins oppositionZhirinovskys
  nationalist Liberal Democratic party, the
  Agrarian and the Communist parties)

14
Boris Yeltsin 1991-1999.

• Yeltsins government inept, corrupt and too
  closely tied to the economic oligarchs who had
  become very wealthy with the privatization of
  Soviet-era assets.
• Not so glorious departure
• Yeltsin picked Vladmir Putin, a former KGB
  officer, to replace him (appointed prime minister
  and then elected as president)

15
1993 Constitution

• Federal System (Government centered in Moscow/ 89
  different subnational units).
• Bilateral agreements between each region and the
  federal government

16
1993 Constitution

• Executive power Strong Presidency (rule by
  decreedecrees must cohere with the legal
  framework, veto power).
• Chief of State President (no vice-president)
• Head of government Premier (appointed by the
  President)
• Cabinet (appointed by the President)
• Presidential Administration (huge bureaucratic
  apparatus)
• Security Council
• Legislative Power
• Russian Federal Assembly (Bicameral
  Legislature)
• State Duma (Lower Chamber ) 450 members, 225
  are elected through PR and 225 are elected
  through SMD. 5 threshold. The Duma has power to
  impeach the President and dissolve the
  government.
• Federation Council (Upper Chamber ) (178
  members, chosen by the 89 regions). Must approve
  (major) presidential appointments in the
  judiciary.
• Judiciary
• Constitutional Court (19 judges-cannot be fired)

17
(Multi?) Party System

• -Passage from one-party system to many (changing)
  parties
• -Strong nationalism
• -Survival of communism (electoral potential
  varies)

18
Putin

• 1999 Yeltsins resignation
• April 2000 election Putin wins over 11
  candidates with 53 of votes
• Weak State, paralyzed economy
• Economic collapse, organized crime, corruption,
  disintegration of public health and public
  education, generalized destitution, Chechnyan
  separatism, terrorism
• Strong state policy struggle against regional
  governors and their political and economic
  leadership Human rights?

19
Roger E. Kanet John S. Reshetars Conclusion

• By 1996, Russia had made substantial progress in
  establishing the bases for a functioning
  democratic system
• Challenges strengthening the rule of law,
  respect for human rights, improving economic
  performance

20
Failed Crusade?

• 1998 Default
• Alexander Solzhenitsyn (2000) As a result of
  the Yeltsin era, all the fundamental sectors of
  our state, economic, cultural, and moral life
  have been destroyed or looted. We live literally
  amid ruins, but we pretend to have a normal life
  We heard that great reforms were being carried
  out in the country. They were false reforms,
  because they left more than half of our countrys
  people in poverty What does it mean to continue
  these reforms? Will we continue looting and
  destroying Russia until nothing is left?... God
  fobid these reforms should continue.

21
Failed Crusade? (Cohen)

• Stephen Cohen reforms during the 1990s has
  contributed to a human tragedy on a massive scale
  and, for the first time in history, the
  destabilization of a fully nuclearized country.
  (xii)
• Flourishing of two cities, Moscow Saint
  Petersburg, amidst poverty (70-75 population)
• More new orphans appeared in the 1990s than those
  resulting from 30,000,000 Russian casualties
  during WWII
• Robber Barons

22
Democracy the Market Friends or Enemies?
23
Mancur Olson Power Prosperity

• Rational Choice tradition (Individuals
  Maximizers)
• State Bandits (maximizer individuals) (Public
  Goods)
• Different GAMES
• Predatory Bandits to take as much as possible
  from a place and then leave (Short Term)
• Stationary Bandits have incentives to stay and
  make a smaller but permanent profit (Long Term)
  Rulers
• Humanity has made progress to the extent that has
  provided incentive for roving banding leaders to
  settle down and become rulers. (Olson)
• The only way of replacing banditry for rule
  arises from democratic arrangements, which emerge
  from a balance of power among a small number of
  leaders, groups, or familiesthat is, by a
  broadly equal dispersion of power that makes it
  imprudent for any leader or group to attempt to
  overpower the others.
• Develop games (coercion and incentives) to lead
  self-interested individuals to act in ways that
  are compatible with the general good.