Russia

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Chapter 4

• Russia

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I. Authoritarian Oligarchy or Budding Democracy

• Between 1945-1991 global politics defined by
  competition between the USA and USSR
• Collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 left the Russian
  Federation as the largest piece of territory
  remaining from the USSR, its population was cut
  in half, but it still remained the largest
  country in the world in terms of geographic size
• Boris Yeltsin became 1st president of the Russian
  Federation, he initiated Shock Therapy reforms
• Democracy
• Free Market Economy

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Oligarchy vs. DemocracyContinued

• Oligarchy a small group of Yeltsins family
  members and personal advisors took control of
  government and granted themselves favors and
  inviting political and economic corruption
• Vladimir Putin replaced Yeltsin in 1999 and has
  attempted to contain the oligarchies influence in
  some aspects of government
• Centralization of Power in President
• Movement towards authoritarian rule
• Unpredictability of Russia (No experience with
  democracy and free market economy)
• Slavic roots provide strong tendency to
  autocratic rule

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II. Sovereignty, Authority, and Power

• Most of 20th century authority in Soviet Russia
  came from the Politburo of the Communist Party
• Politburo small group of men who climbed the
  ranks of the party through the nomenklatura
  system.
• Nomenklatura ordered path from local party
  soviets to the commanding heights of leadership
• When the Soviet Union dissolved the authority and
  power of the Politburo dissolved with it.

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III. Legitimacy

• Political legitimacy for Russia is currently very
  low, partly because changes are a drastic
  departure from the past
• Recent evidence that country is stabilizing under
  Putin.
• Putin may use authoritarian strategies to
  solidify Russias weak, illiberal democracy.
• Historically Russias political legitimacy has
  been based on strong, centralized, autocratic
  rule
• Tsars
• Communist rule propagated by Marxism-Leninism
• Democratic-Centralism rule by a few for the
  benefit of the many
• Stalinism changed the regime to totalitarianism
• Constitution of 1993 provided for a strong
  president, although power of the president can
  technically be checked by popular elections and
  the Duma

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IV. Historical Influences on Politics

• Absolute, Centralized Rule
• Extensive Cultural Heterogeneity ethnic
  diversity and numerous republics and
  autonomous regions reflected in name Russian
  Federation
• Revolutions of 20th Century

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V. Political Culture

• Characteristics
• Geographic Setting
• Eastern Orthodoxy
• Equality of Result
• Hostile toward Government
• Importance of Nationality

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Geographic Setting

• Geographic Setting
• Largest country in world
• Contains 11 time zones
• Majority of country is north of 49th degree
  latitude (U.S. Canada border)
• Abundance of Natural Resources that exist in
  inhospitable or inaccessible geographic locations

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Eastern Orthodoxy

• Eastern Orthodoxy
• Early in their history Russians established ties
  with Constantinople and adopted Eastern Orthodox
  Christianity as their religion
• This meant that they did not share the values of
  the Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific
  Revolution and Enlightenment
• Russians came to value a strong state to protect
  them from geographic vulnerabilities instead of
  individualism
• Russian statism existed in contrast to Western
  civil society

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Equality of Result

• Equality of Result
• Communist regime instilled a value of equality in
  the Russian people already strong in a country of
  peasants with similar living standards
• Egalitarianism has survived the fall of the
  Soviet Union
• Most Russians resent differences of wealth or
  income
• Equality of Result vs. Equality of Opportunity
• Russian political culture is not particularly
  conducive to the development of capitalism

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Hostility toward Government Nationality

• Hostility to Govt
• Despite strong, central authority and Russian
  statism citizens can be surprisingly hostile
  toward their government
• Years of repression spark resentment that leads
  to badmouthing of political leaders
• Pessimism towards political and economic policies

• Importance of Nationality
• Cultural heterogeneity
• Discrimination and historical stereotypes
• Baltic peoples usually viewed favorably,
  Muslim-Turks viewed in a negative light
• Anti-Semitism was strong under the Tsars, some
  nationalists in Russia blame the Jews for
  Russias current problems

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VI. Political Economic Change

1. Long period of Autocratic rule by Tsars ruled
   Russia from the 14th century to the early 20th.
   Control of Russia passed down through the Romanov
   family from the 17th century on, but transitions
   were often accompanied by brutality and
   assassinations
2. 20th century rule by Communist Party began in
   1917 when Lenins Bolsheviks seized control of
   the government after the last tsar, Nicholas II,
   was deposed. The regime toppled in 1991 when a
   failed coup from within the government created
   chaos
3. Regime change to Democracy and Free Markets in
   1991 President Boris Yeltsin put western-style
   reforms in place to help create the Russian
   Federation

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19th Century

• Russia invaded by Napoleon in 1812
• Alexander I resists invasion and ultimately
  drives French out of Russia
• Russian intellectuals influenced by Western
  thought grew weary of tsarist absolutism and
  revolted Decembrist Revolt of 1825
• Revolt crushed by Nicholas I
• Crimean War Russia defeated by UK, France, and
  Ottoman Empire. Defeat was a significant blow for
  confidence in tsarist leadership among Russians
• Tsars used secret police for investigations, as
  well as exiling and execution of dissenters in
  19th century
• Alexander II only 19th century tsar to embrace
  reforms, however he was assassinated in 1881.
• He freed Russian serfs
• Set up regional zemstvas (assemblies)
• Alexander III reacted to assassination by undoing
  reforms and intensifying efforts of secret
  police.

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Revolution of 1917

• Causes
• Russias defeat in Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
• Ineffectiveness in World War I
• Riots first break out in 1905 after Russians
  defeated by Japanese
• Revolts were suppressed but state collapsed in
  1917 amidst World War I
• Russian soldiers were fighting without guns and
  shoes, military defections from the war helped
  send the state into chaos

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Lenin and the Bolsheviks

• Mensheviks Russian Marxists who believed that
  socialist revolutions would first take place in
  industrialized countries such as Germany and
  England, Russians would have to wait to modernize
• Vladimir Lenin communist who disagreed with
  Mensheviks, he argued for democratic-centralism,
  or a vanguard leadership group to lead the
  revolution in the name of the people
• Bolsheviks followers of Lenin, practice
  Marxism-Leninism, took control of Russian
  government in late 1917 (October Revolution).

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Stalinism

• Stalin places Communist Party (CPSU) at center of
  control
• Leaders identified through nomenklatura process
  of selecting individuals from lower levels within
  party (Kept a file for anybody who was somebody)
• Politburo heart and soul of Communist Party,
  group of 12 men from the Central Committee who
  ran the country, all government agencies and
  departments were at their disposal and carried
  out their decisions
• -General Secretary head of the Politburo,
  dictator of the country (Stalin was General
  Secretary from 19271953)

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Stalinism II

• Collectivization Industrialization
• Replaced the NEP with collective farms
• Private land ownership abolished, kulaks forced
  to move to cities or labor camps
• Five-Year Plans ambitious goals for production
  of heavy industry such as oil, steel, and
  electricity. Labor and factories fueled by
  agricultural surplus produced from the farms
• Gosplan Central State Planning Commission, in
  charge of Five-Year Plans, became the center for
  the economy, determined production and
  distribution of virtually all goods in Soviet
  Union
• Stalinism the two-pronged program of
  collectivization and industrialization, carried
  out by central planning, executed with force and
  brutality

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Stalins Foreign Policy

• Primary concern internal development, foreign
  policy was meant to support this
• Stalin advocated socialism in one country
• Signed Non-Aggression Pact with Nazi Germany in
  1939
• Tensions between Soviets and the West,
  particularly the United States, become a growing
  foreign policy concern for Stalin
• Cold War

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The Purges

• Execution of millions of Soviet citizens
• As many as one million communist party members
  executed
• Stalin obsessed with disloyalty within the party
• Generals, Central Committee members, and
  Politburo officials purged as a result of
  Stalins paranoia

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Gorbachev

• Takes over as General Secretary in the mid-1980s
• Leads a younger generation of communists
• Educated and more westernized then previous
  Soviet leaders
• Initiates a wave of reforms that included
• Glasnost
• Perestroika
• Demokratizatsiia

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Glasnost Openness

• Open discussion of political, social, and
  economic issues
• Allowed for open criticism of government and
  government policies
• Gorbachev stressed that the ultimate test of the
  party lay in improving the economic well-being of
  the country and its people
• Open market relations
• Pragmatic economic policy
• Less secretive government

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Perestroika Restructuring

• Loosened controls of the Communist Party,
  allowing group formation in other sectors of
  society
• Economic Restructuring
• Modernization from within
• Transfer economic power from central government
  to private hands and market economy
• Authorization of privately owned companies
• Penalties for under-performing state factories
• Price reforms
• Encouragement of joint ventures with foreign
  companies
• Leasing of farm land outside the collective farms

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Demokratizatsiia

• Gorbachev wanted to insert some democratic
  characteristics into the old Soviet structure
• However, he did want to maintain Communist Party
  control
• Reforms included
• A new Congress of Peoples Deputies with directly
  elected representatives
• New position of President that was selected by
  the Congress
• Deputies were often critical of Gorbachev
• Increasing levels of displeasure with government
  from both liberal and conservative members of
  Communist Party

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Revolution of 1991

• August 1991
• Led by Conservatives (those opposed to, or who
  wanted to abandon Gorbachevs reforms)
• Vice-president
• Head of the KGB
• Top military advisers
• Coup failed when popular protests erupted and
  soldiers defected rather than support their
  leaders
• Protesters were led by Boris Yeltsin, president
  elect of the Russian Republic
• Gorbachev restored to power, but by December 1991
  eleven Soviet republics declared their
  independence
• Gorbachev officially announces dissolution of
  Soviet Union

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Boris Yeltsin

• Former member of Politburo, removed because his
  radical views offended conservatives
• Even more extreme than Gorbachev
• Elected president of Russian Republic as result
  of voting procedures put in place by Gorbachev
• Emerged as president of the largest republic,
  Russian Federation, after Soviet Union dissolves
• Attempts to create a western-style democracy
• Shock Therapy economic reforms (Immediate
  market economy)
• Russian economy does not respond to shock
  therapy reforms
• Conflict erupts between Yeltsin and the Duma

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Yeltsin II

• Poor president
• Hires and fires numerous prime ministers
• Alcoholic frequently ill this leads to erratic
  political behavior
• Resigns before the 2000 elections
• Vladimir Putin, Yeltsins prime minister, takes
  over and wins the 2000 2004 elections

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VII. Citizens, Society, and the State

• Nationality
• Most important single cleavage in Russia
• 80 of population is Russian
• Others include
• Tatars
• Ukrainians
• Armenians
• Chuvashes
• Bashkis
• Byelorussians
• Moldavians

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Nationality continued

• Nationality cleavages determine the organization
  of the country into federations, autonomous
  regions, republics, and provinces
• Many ethnic groups would like to have their
  independence, but are enticed by trade benefits
  with the Russian government to stay in the
  Federation
• Chechnya is the one exception

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Chechnya

• Primarily Muslim region of Russia
• Contains some valuable resources, such as oil
  fields
• Independence movement is strong, and Russian
  government has struggled to keep Chechnya region
  within its control
• Chechens have reverted to terrorist tactics
  including taking over a heavily attended Russian
  theater and in 2004 the seizure of a school that
  resulted in the deaths of over 350 people, mostly
  children

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VII. Citizens, Society, and the State continued

• Religion
• Russian Orthodox under the tsars
• All religion prohibited during the Soviet Unions
  rule
• Boris Yeltsin encouraged Russian Orthodox Church
  to reestablish itself as a signal of a break from
  communism and a reflection of old Russian
  nationalism
• Other religions represented in very small
  percentages (Roman Catholic, Jews, Muslims,
  Protestants)

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VII. Citizens, Society, and the State continued

• Social Class
• Russian society much more egalitarian than
  western societies with a few notable exceptions
• Nomenklatura only about 7 of the citizenry were
  CPSU members, and all political leaders were
  chosen from this group. However within this group
  egalitarian measures were followed, and little
  significance was given to economic and social
  background
• Business Oligarchy emerged during Yeltsins
  regime, often former KGB and CPSU leaders,
  granted favors by Yeltsin government to promote
  business. Struggled in late 1990s but have
  emerged as leaders in Russia after acquiring
  major corporations, ie. Media Most Yukos Oil.
  Putin had to arrest or send into exile CEOs of
  these companies for refusing to pay or
  underpaying government taxes

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Rural vs. Urban Life

• 73 of all Russians live in urban settings,
  usually in the western part of the country
• Economic divide between rural and urban residents
  is wide, however, all Russians have been hit hard
  by recent economic woes of the post-Cold War
  Russia
• Urban residents tend to be more educated and in
  touch with western culture

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Political Participation

• During Soviet rule political participation was
  forced, and therefore was close to 100
• Gorbachevs reforms created competitive elections
  in the Soviet Union that followed through to the
  Russian Federation
• In 1991 voter turnout in the Russian Federation
  was higher than the U.S.
• Political participation for the Duma elections of
  1993 was only 50.3, but this followed a failed
  attempt by the Duma to take over the country
• Presidential voter turnout has declined from 75
  in 1991 elections to less than 65 for the 2004
  elections
• Lack of participation may be due to Russias
  underdeveloped civil society
• Only 1 of Russias citizens report being a
  member of a political party
• Few Russians are members of clubs, churches, or
  cultural groups

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VIII. Political Institutions (Federalism or
Unitary)

• Although the Soviet Union was highly centralized,
  it still maintained a federal government
  structure
• Russian Federation has retained this model, with
  the current regime consisting of 89 regions, 21
  of which are ethnically non-Russian by majority
• Each region is bound by treaty to the Federation,
  not all have officially signed on (Chechnya)
• Most regions are called republics
• Many republics ruled themselves independently,
  but Putin has cracked down on this
• Putin ended direct election of the 89 regional
  governors, they are now nominated by the
  president and confirmed by the regional
  legislatures

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IX. Linkage Institutions

• Political Parties
• Elections
• Interest Groups
• Media

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Political Parties

• Began forming after Revolution of 1991
• Small, factional
• Formed around particular leaders
• Bloc of General Andrey Nikolaev and Academician
  Svyaloslav Fyodorov
• Yuri Boldyrev Movement (Yabloko)
• Formed around particular issues
• Party of Pensioners
• Agrarian Party of Russia
• Women of Russia
• Political Parties Today (United Russia, Communist
  Party, Reform Parties)

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United Russia

• Founded in April 2001
• Merger between Fatherland All-Russia Party and
  the United Party of Russia
• United Party put together by oligarch Boris
  Berezovsky and other entrepreneurs to support
  Putin in the election of 2000
• Merger put even more political support behind
  Putin
• United Russia won 221 of the 450 Duma seats in
  2004 elections
• Putin won re-election in 2004 as the United
  Russia candidate
• United Russia is hard to define other than that
  it is pro-Putin

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Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF)

• Communist Party of the old Soviet Union (CPSU)
• After 1995 elections held 157 of the 450 Duma
  seats
• After parliamentary election of 2003 only
  retained 51 of the 450 Duma seats
• Party is less reformist than other parties,
  Zyuganov opposed the reforms initiated by
  Gorbachev
• Party emphasizes central planning and nationalism
• Would like to see Russia regain territories it
  lost after Soviet Union dissolution

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Reformist Parties

• Yabloko
• Taken strongest stand for pro-democracy
• Survived since 1993
• Name is acronym for its three founders, also
  means apple
• Gained 4.4 of vote in 2003 parliamentary
  elections (4 seats) making it ineligible for
  proportional representation

• Union of Right Forces
• Rightest only in the sense of seeking truth
• Emphasizes development of free market
• Supports privatization of industry
• Had 29 seats in Duma prior to 2003
• After 2003 elections only won 3 seats (less than
  5 of the vote)

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Liberal Democratic Party

• Controversial party
• Extreme nationalist
• Anti-semitic
• Sexist
• Attacks reformist leaders and disliked Yeltsin
• Said he would use nuclear weapons on Japan if he
  were elected
• Party reformulated as Zhirinovskys Bloc for
  2000 presidential election, he received 2.7 of
  vote
• Party did receive about 11 of vote in 2003 Duma
  elections (won 37 seats)

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Elections

• 3 types
• Referendum
• Duma Elections
• Presidential Elections

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Constitution of 1993

• Created a three-branch government
• President Prime Minister
• Lower legislative house (DUMA)
• Constitutional Court
• Referendum - allowed for president to call for
  national referenda by popular vote on important
  issues
• Yeltsins first referendum was on his job
  performance
• Second was for approval of the constitution itself

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Interest Groups II

• Huge fortunes made by oligarchs and the mafia
  offend the equality of opportunity principle of
  the Russian people
• Putin arrested television magnate Vladimir
  Gusinsky for corruption and his company was given
  to a state-owned monopoly
• In 2003, Mikhail Khodorvsky, the richest man in
  Russia and CEO of the Yukos Oil Company was
  arrested as a signal that the Russian government
  was consolidating power
• Yukos was slapped with massive penalties and
  additional taxes, forcing it into bankruptcy
• Russian Media a linkage institution with close
  ties to both the state and the oligarchy, has
  been manipulated by dominant political and
  interest groups to pursue their own causes

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X. Institutions of GovernmentA. President
Prime Minister

• Duties of the President
• Appoints the prime minister and cabinet Duma
  must approve prime ministers appointment, but if
  they reject the presidents nominee three times,
  the president may dissolve the Duma
• Issue decrees that have force of law cabinet
  has great deal of power, Duma can not censure
  cabinet according to Constitution of 1993
• Dissolve the Duma done by Yeltsin during
  legislative coup attempt of 1993
• Prime Minister relationship between PM and
  President not exactly clear, but with no
  vice-president if anything happens to president
  the PM assumes the office of president

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B. Bicameral Legislature

• Duma
• Lower House
• 450 deputies
• Half chosen by proportional representation
• Half by single-member district plurality
• Passes Bills
• Approves Budgets
• Confirms presidents political appointments

• Federation Council
• Upper House
• Two members elected from each of the 89 regions
  of the federation
• Power to delay legislation
• On paper Federation Council can change boundaries
  of republics, ratify use of armed forces, and
  appoint and remove judges. These powers have yet
  to be use however

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C. Judiciary

• Supreme Court
• Created by 1993 Constitution
• Serves as final court of appeals in criminal
  civil cases
• Constitutional Court
• Created by 1993 Constitution
• 19 members
• Appointed by president and confirmed by
  Federation Council

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D. Military

• Was a source of strength during the Soviet era,
  1945-1991
• Once stood at over 4 million men
• Generally did not get involved in politics, this
  continues under the Russian Federation
• One prominent general, Alexander Lebed, gained
  political following before the 1996 election and
  had to be coopted by Yeltsin in order for Yeltsin
  to win reelection
• Suffered significant humiliation from the late
  1980s to early 21st century
• Withdrawal from Afghanistan
• Defeated by Chechen guerrillas in 1994-1996
  conflict
• Often ill-equipped, Russian soldiers had to feed
  themselves and went unpaid for months in late
  1990s and early 21st century

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XI. Public Policy/Current Issues

• The Economy
• At the heart of the Soviet demise in 1991
• Perestroika reforms market economy programs
  inserted into traditional centralized state
  ownership design
• Shock Therapy reforms created chaotic
  conditions that resulted in a small group of
  entrepreneurs running the economy
• In 1997 economy collapsed when government
  defaulted on billions of dollars of debts
• Russian stock market lost half its value,
  threatened global markets as well
• Ruble lost value rapidly, by 2002 it took more
  than 30,000 rubles to equal one dollar
• The overall economy did see slight improvements
  in 19992000
• In 2004 the economy grew 7, and standards of
  living improved, the first real signs that the
  Russian economy was starting to thrive again

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Foreign Policy

• Relations with Former Republics
• Confederation of Independent States (CIS)
• Russia is the clear leader of organization
• Is not nearly as successful, economically and
  politically, as the EU
• Bonded together by trade agreements
• Tensions of nationality issues
• Putins meddling in Ukrainian election of 2004
  was cause for concern

• Relations with the World
• Adjustment period for Russia following Cold War
  and loss of superpower status
• Offered aid and foreign investment by U.S.
• Accepted into the G-7 (now known as G-8)
• UN Security Council permanent member
• Russia set to join the WTO in July 2007