CasebookRussia 1/7

BROphy Debate Andy

CasebookRussia
Why study? o Russia very unique as first major example of full blown state communism established in 1917 after killing the tsar o End of Soviet Russia came slowly and painfully highlights economic and administrative weaknesses o Russia was forced to undergo massive and extremely rapid changes in how it conceptualized its political and economic institutions o Today Russia is a major source of debate and controversy in modern government o Very restricted democracy o Economic future is murky Rapid oscillations o Radically different depending on where you are in the country Geography and Demographics o Russia is really really really big far and away the biggest country in the world o Population is about 146 million Flat-lining may be on its way to shrinking in the near future o Russian frontier is really just Siberia in contrast to US or Euro frontier which presented new opportunities Russian frontier presents more ice and a place to put political prisoners o Borders 14 countries often leads to substantial friction Japan, for example Russia has been a popular site of invasion from east and west alike throughout its existence o Rich in natural resources especially energy resources History o Kievan Rus controversial most Russians dont like the idea that foreigners started their country. Debate even extends to meaning of countrys name o Orthodox Christianity their primary religion doesnt really draw a line between church and state o Mongol invasion middle ages was a major political and cultural event in Russian history o Missed out No renaissance, protestant reformation, or development of economic and social middle class o Ivan the Terrible consolidates political and military power in Russia Becomes the first Tsar o lacked strong democratic institutions Growth stunted by which was often stunted by foreign invasion had a lot of state power this combination took it farther away from the west o Identity crisis

CasebookRussia 2/7

BROphy Debate Andy

Not sure if eastern or western Peter the Great is obsessed with westernization whereas Nicholas I hates it o Industrialization comes relatively late to Russia Left it far behind its international rivals o Dangerous power gap grows in Russia the aristocracy, gaining power, is forced to contend with an agrarian social development that seeks to assert more political power and autonomy for itself o 1905Duma is established as legislature o 1904 Russia gets crushed by Japan o World War I is the last straw for Russia after withdrawing from the war Russia experiences a total social collapse 1917communists revolutionaries under Lenin seize power The Russian Rev under Lenin o Lenins rev was a big cultural shift also basically fell back on the old conservative way of ruling o KGB created as secret police o rampant nationalization of major industries o Soviet leadership view 1917 revolution as first step towards larger international move towards communism o Stalin gradually consolidates power in the communist party When Lenin dies, he comes up as the big guy on campus Stalinism, terror, and the totalitarian state o By the late 30s Stalin has absolute control over the state economics, politics, and larger society are all under his thumb o agriculture is forcibly collectivized a lot of farmers just destroy their crops instead some 7 million die in ensuing famine o Largely in Ukraine o crash course industrializing 5 year plans o terror becomes primary means of perpetuating government rule o strong, god-like cult of personality surrounds Stalin o terror gets toned down after Stalins death, hes actually criticized state forces still suppress dissension though Stability and stagnation after Stalin o power vested in politburo o soviet union actually achieves a relative degree of stability and economic advancement in this period o khruschev attempts to suppress power of politburo, seeing it as unstable, thrown out in 1964 o Brezhnev assures politburo theyre safe with him o past the 1960s it became clear the soviets couldnt compete with the West The failure of reform and the collapse of the soviet state o Gorbachev after kruschev glasnost (political openness) and perestroika (econ reform) become his major policy ideas move towards Western ideals o reform proves an uncontrollable force and gorbachev gets caught between the pro communist hard liners and the more radical reformers Reformers headed by Yeltsin o coup occurs

CasebookRussia BROphy Debate 3/7 Andy fails after no military backing o Yeltsin ends up taking power and bans the communist party Heads up a new, independent Russia o 1991Soviet Union officially dissolved o after Yeltsin, Putin dominates Russian politics - Political regime o is Russia a dem? Its definitely more free than the old soviet state, but also lacks dem institutions in light of major state control seems to be moving away from dem of late - The constitution o Russian constitution born of internal conflict o Yeltsin grappled with the still power thirsty parliament when he came into office 1993dissolved parliament after they tried to impeach him. He then drafted a new constitution that neutered legislative power made for a less than promising democratic beginning - The Kremlin o historically Russian power has always been seated in what is called the Kremlin an actual structure in Moscow but also the name they give their executive system o Presidenthead of state pres appoints PM though Duma can block his pick, if they do it 3 times he can dissolve them pres cant dissolve duma in last 6 months of term or in the year following elections pres appoints 7 district heads that basically run the Russian bureaucracy provincially pres has decree power pres can veto/propose laws pres controls FSB, foreign policy, and internal affairs pretty hard to remove pres o impeachment efforts failed 3 times w/ Yeltsin o Prime minister head of gov PM is supposed to supervise ministries and propose legislation to parliament gov not necessarily representative of larger majorities in parliament PM often loyalist to president or career bureaucrat - The legislature o Russian parliament still has fairly little influence over handling the state of Russian affairs o 450 seat Duma o 172 seat Federation Council Duma initiates legislation can override pres veto with a 2/3 majority o Duma approves the prime minister o Duma can do no confidence vote then if another happens in 3 months pres has to dismiss PM and cabinet and do new Duma elections o Duma can be dissolved under a few different circumstances, so its power is stinted o majority of legislative influence still resides in Duma o Fed council has less power, is represented by two people from each district serves mainly as a guardian of the constitution and a necessary check point in things like declaring war also oversees treaties - The judicial system o one of the major challenges Russia faces is establishing fair rule of law

CasebookRussia BROphy Debate 4/7 Andy having an independent judiciary is part of that o basically the majority party in Russia can do what it wants it always represents the will of the people o Russia has a history of weak legal institutions Makes it hard to create any and making the people have less faith in their ability to do so o constitutional court doesnt act on criminal cases, but has abstract/concrete power of review o Putin promises dictatorship of laws No one is entirely sure what that means o Transparency international gives Russia a 2.8/10 on corruption index really bad for whats considered an advanced country o regional governments can still basically ignore court rulings if they want o courts fear challenging executive theyd probably lose and just hurt their already weak power - The electoral system o Russian president was elected by the congress of peoples deputies since the dissolution of the USSR the president has been elected directly o voter turnout was greater than 60% in elections since USSR dissolved o president can serve no more than 2 4 year terms o half of Duma elected with a plurality system the other half through a prop representation system with a threshold at 5% o Russia basically has had two major parties o They themselves are pretty fragmented o Putin wanted to reform in 2007 to make everything PR with a 7% threshold - Local government o Biggest power conflict in Russia is between local and central government ten districts 50 provinces six territories Two fed cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg) o Russia has a system of asymmetric federalism power is proportioned unevenly throughout different districts o each district has its own local government with a duma and governor o Putin has made attempts to curtail the influence of local governments and concentrate more at the state level weakening legislative power o President now appoints all local governors - The party system and elections o The party system in Russia isnt very ideological or well defined, still transitioning from being a one party state o pres often creates parties to suit his interests - Communist and leftist parties o CPRF a successor to the old communist party and consistently one of the stronger ones in elections boasts about million members o hindered by legacy from the soviet era has tried to temper pure communist rhetoric into something more social democratic, like in Europe o New Motherland party another agglomeration of leftists - Liberal parties

CasebookRussia BROphy Debate 5/7 Andy o Yabloko favors more market capitalism, greater international ties, against war with Chechnya, based in support from white collar basically a crossroads between liberalism and social dem o URF new liberal party thats a mix of a bunch of smaller parties, undercuts Yabloko support base o liberalism finds rocky soil in Russia history of a lack thereof lacks a strong middle class liberal candidates=oligarchical tools - Nationalist parties o LDPR xenophobic and anti semitic primary nationalist party rose and declined during the 90s but lately has seen a comeback as a result of their consistent backing of Putin - Parties of power o basically made by political elites to buoy their own ambitions o dont have clear ideologies or organization going into elections o trend persists strongly throughout 90s and early 2000s o in 2003 duma elections were basically a parties of power affair not helped by the fact that the media basically only follows them now Instrument of state control - Civil society o Civil society in Russia has had an extremely rocky history any civil society that might have emerged in the 20th century was destroyed or consolidated by the communists in 1917 o glasnost in the 80s allowed for more of it to develop as more political freedom was allowed o 300,000 different civil organizations exist in Russia but many lack sufficient funding or support to become effective o civil organizations also often raise tensions o with the orthodox church in some areas this problem is particularly present, when they clash with organizations representing evangelical or other religious denominations o government still clamps down on the civil organizations that it doesnt really like major example in opposition against war with Chechnya environmental activists criticizing energy policies o media is state controlled to its core makes it hard for civil society to develop outside the orbit of the national government o even before state control, the media was still basically just a voice box for the more powerful oligarchical interests within Russia - Ethnic and national identity o USSR was fairly ethnically diverse, o modern day Russia is made up of most entirely ethnic Russians with a few random groups mixed in 80% is ethnic Russian orthodox Christianity is the dominant religious group - National identity and citizenship o Russia is no stranger to ethnic conflict many of its groups have aspirations towards independence o Caucasus have been a focal point of conflict home to mixed ethnic groups, many Muslims

CasebookRussia BROphy Debate 6/7 Andy o Chechnya biggest source of conflict it probably should have become independent when the soviet union dissolved, but didnt and thinks that it has a right to two different invasions of Chechnya have left tens of thousands dead or homeless - Ideology and political culture o political ideology of Russia is persistently in flux o communism was obviously the only permitted ideology after the 1917 revolution o ideas have been more diverse than 1991 polls indicate that Russians actually dont care all the much about democratic ideals when it comes between those ideals and social/econ concerns o only real ideology with much weight is communism o Russians dont feel a great need to attach themselves to any given ideology o it may be a question of time Russia could just need a few more decades to get its act together and form real political ideologies o one could also argue a universal Russian ideology that believes in central power, frowns on risk taking, and looks at institutions with suspicion - Political economy o Russias biggest economic challenge is in building a market economy where one has never existed before o shock therapy was the fast and hard disassembly of state run industries following the dissolution of the soviet union Recession followed quickly along with high inflation. Wasnt until late 1990s that economy actually moved out of contraction o privatization has been an equally troubling process insider privatization is the process by which huge shares of what was once a collectively owned economy were delineated to many corrupt oligarchs who are now very, very wealthy o loans for shares program in 96 oligarchs lend the government money in return for shares in not yet privatized industries o Some have criticized how quickly reform was attempted in Russia seemingly neglected the weak institutions, non existent capitalistic culture, and history of state control all factors that serve as concomitants in a market economy. o Others say that no matter what reform was going to be hard so it only makes sense to try and make it come on quickly o poverty is high in Russia income inequality is substantial rampant corruption deters foreign investors who are afraid of risking their money o 80% Russian GDP is private o something like a middle class appears to be developing o Putin is attempting more economic reforms to try and spur capitalism WTO ascension o still wary of large firms getting too much influence - Foreign relations and the world o Russia is being forced to deal with the fact that theyre no longer the super power they were the main difference is that this psychological reality came suddenly for Russia, UK had a while to come to terms with their decline o NATO is a major example much to Russias chagrin NATO has been able to expand eagerly into what was once a dominant Russian sphere of influence in eastern Europe NATO doesnt really exist to check Russia anymore,

CasebookRussia 7/7

BROphy Debate Andy but Russia is still less than comfortable with the continued rise of it o EU accepted many former bloc countries in 2004 Russia has toyed with the idea of joining o biggest hurdle for Russia in joining EU or NATO is surrendering its idea of pure national sovereignty to larger intl institutions something that they dont really want to do but are more pressured to do as their old countries become part of such institutions further isolates Russia o Russia has ties with NK and Iran also China (though less than happily) o CIS (commonwealth of independent states) loose confederation of what used to be soviet countries that Russia has attempted to keep together. these countries are gravitating more towards EU and US influence o something that is deeply humiliating for the idea of Russian pride o Russia still has an enormous nuclear arsenal its conventional weapons supply has shrunk and its military is starting to look archaic fears of the proliferation of chemical weapons tech to unsavory sources o Russia facing historical conundrum of different trends One trend is that which has sought to engage with and learn from the outside world especially the west The other sees Russia as a significantly independent country that needs to resist international conspiracies against them Current issues o the war against the oligarchs oligarchs are basically private individuals in Russia who wield enormous fortunes subsequently strong political tools Putin made clear, and only vaguely legal, war on the oligarchs Bringing many down with accusations of tax evasion or demands to sell off assets. o The move has had a mixed reception in the intl community the underlying issue still remains one of maintaining state power usually oligarchs who stand in opposition to central government control (ie Putin) find themselves in Siberia those who support the central government find cabinet positions such actions against strong capitalists lead to concerns about whether Russia can truly become amenable to a market economy o Chechnya, Islamic fundamentalism, and terrorism Chechen war is larger emblem of struggle against terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism in Russia one that manifested itself in all out war against Chechnya from 94-96 struggle was initially nationalist many Islamic fundamentalists came to Chechnya to fight Russia Following the second Russian invasion in 1999 numerous terrorist attacks have high lighted just how desperate the situation has become killing Chechen leaders may just mean the rise of even more extreme forces likely originating from Al Qaeda