Global Studies II

Unit II Russia

Name ______________________________
Date ____________
Russian Democracy Has Disappeared?
- Clifford J. Levy, New York Times

Directions: After reading the article mentioned above, answer the questions below. Please
answer in complete sentence format.
1. What is human rights? According t o the author, identify human rights issues the current
political regime in Russia have violated.
Human Rights is a right that is believed to belong justifiably to every person. Issues that the
current political regime in Russia has violated are brutally beating journalists and human rights
activists and opposition politicians. These are moves to concentrate power in the hands of Kremlin,
and are all evidence that Russia is becoming increasingly authoritarian.

2. Identify political corruption issues Mr. Levy identifies in Russia today.

Political corruption issues Mr. Levy identifies in Russia today would be the power that they take
advantage of and use it to their advantage. They dont give their citizens little rights to
participate in the government and little rights to express how they feel about the corruption of
power. Journalists and other occupations alike will be brutally beaten or even killed if they show
any opinion against their government.

3. How does Mr. Gorbachev, the previous Russian premier, feel about the current leaders? Why
does he feel this way?
Gorbachev says that Vladimir Putin is undermining Russias fledgling democracy by crippling
opposition forces. He goes on to say that Vladimir thinks democracy stands in his way. Gorbachev
does not like the new leaders because he did all these reforms to help the people and now there all
going away because Putin erased democracy from coming into Russia.

4. The caption for the picture on page one is titled, Batman and Robin. Explain this caption.
The picture on the page is captioned Batman and Robin because after Putins term expired he
hand picked Medvedev as his successor and after he one he gave the position of Prime Minister to
Putin and even though Medvedev is the President Putin still controls most of the power.

5. According to the author [and Mr. Gorbechev, democracy begins with:

Elections, accountability, and turnover.

6. In addition to the aspects of democracy identified above, which other key ingredient is
necessary for a democracy? According to the author, how does Russia meet this ingredient?
Back up your answer with facts.
Another key feature for democracy is respect for the rule of law. This key feature is often
manipulated in Russia to provide for the governments needs. Critics of Kremlin are routinely
denied permission for rallies and the police detain anyone attending unauthorized demonstations.

7. Identify two cases the author identifies where the Russian government has failed the
democratic test.
The case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky who was head of the biggest oil company in Russia. He was
offering support to opposition political parties. He now has spent the last seven years in jail and
his company was sold off to Putin which made foreign investors wary. Another case would be the
jury trials which was a foundation of US law and was supposed to change Russias judicial system
Judges who were appointed by the government a jury of ordinary people. The jurors were
frequently intimidated by the authorities.

http://worldculturesmst.weebly.com/uploads/7/9/1/4/7914641/has_russian_democracy_disappea
red.pdf