Russia Flashcards
First revolution 1905
VI. First Revolution (1905);
|—> Increasing political and economic discontent;
|—> Defeat against Japan (1904-1905);
|—> Establishment of Duma (with limited powers);
1917 February revolution
February Revolution (1917);
|—> Discontent with Tsarist rule;
|—> Suffering from WW1;
|—> Liberals take power, but continue the war;
October revolution 1917
|—> Bolsheviks and Lenin seize power;
|—> Take Russia out of the war;
|—> Establish communist state;
Transition and turbulence in 1990s
Chechnya wars 1994-2000
XII. Coup d’état against Gorbatchev (1991);
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|—> Prevented by Yeltsin;
|—> Dissolution of the Soviet Union;
|—> Foundation of the Russian Federation;
|
XIII.Dissolution of the Soviet Union and creation of the Russian Federation (1991);
XIV.Constitutional crisis (1993);
|
|—> Parliament (former elite) opposes reforms;
|—> Military supports Yeltsin;
|
XV. New Constitution under Yeltsin (1993);
|—> Radical political and economic reforms;
Authoritarian elements
|—> Unfair elections;
|—> Harassment and jailing of opponents;
|—> State-controlled media;
|—> No independent media;
|—> Pervasive corruption;
|—> Ban on independent NGOs;
President
Two round majority system
Entry restrictions
* (100.000 – 300.000 signatures)
Candidates prohibited from running (Navalny 2018)
Only once a second round (1996)
- Directly elected in two-round system;
- In 2021, term extended from 4 to 6 years;
- In 2020, term limits count set to zero again;
- Nominates prime-minister and ministers (and some governors);
- Commander-in-chef of armed forces;
- Introduces bills, can issue decrees;
- Veto power for legislation (can be overridden);
- Can dissolve parliament;
- Determines direction of domestic and foreign policies;
- Strong control over individual ministers;
The Duma
450 members, elected for 5 year terms
Right to approve prime minister(appointed by president)
No confidence vote against president
* President can ignore first vote of no confidence, second no confidence vote the president cant ignore, but can just dissolve Duma and call for new elections
Passes laws
- Members elected through mixed-member majoritarian system;
- Stronger of the 2 houses;
- Propose and vote legislation;
- Dominated by one party since 2007;
Federation council
Representing federal subjects. Rogue judges can be removed by federation council. They confirm judges and are weaker than the Duma.
- 170 members;
- Members elected indirectly by federal subjects (2 per
entity, terms vary);
- Approval needed for taxation and budget, can be
overridden by Duma;
- Approval needed for certain presidential nominations;
United Russia
Party of power
* Stability
* Conservatism
* Law and order
* Nationalism
CPRF (succesor of soviet union party)
- State led economy
- Rejection of capitalism
- Anti globalization
- Nationalization
- Secular/anti religious
- Soviet nostalgia
LDPR
- Ultranationalism
- Xenophobia
- Conservative
- Militarism
- Expansionism
- Mixed economy
- Populist/far right
A just Russia
Founded in 2006 as a social democratic party
Created by kremlin according to observers
2011 duma elections 13% of votes
• Briefly more critical towards Putin
2021 merger with For Truth %
Ideology
• Welfare state
• Soft market economy
• Social democracy
“Systemic opposition”
Russia of the future
- Centrism
- Liberalism (lgbt rights)
- Environmentalism
- Social democracy
- Pro European
Liberal/anti system
Constitutional court
19 members nominated by president and approved by federation council
12 year terms
Federation council can remove a judge
Exists on paper and doesn’t really play a role
- Branched judiciary judging based on codified law;
- Constitutional court (19 judges nominated by the president, to be approved by the
Federation Council);
- Frequent accusations of corruption;
Federalism
- Federal subjects were sometimes strongest powers against Putin
- Federal districts created in order to strengthen grip of regime on federal subjects
- 85 entities (provinces, republics, territories, districts, cities);
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|—> Asymmetric federalism: different (limited powers);
|—> Competitive federalism (competition between entities and state);
|—> Increasing influence of the President; - 8 federal districts created in 2000:
|
|—> “facilitate coordination between entities”;
|—> increase presidential control (appoints district envoy);
Russia’s special path
Term used by political elites to legitimize political system and foreign policy
Emphasis on Russian exceptionalism and morality
* Comparisons with American exceptionalism
Sovereign democracy: focus on order and stability
Rejection of western values
Restoration of superpower status
Reorientation towards (central) Asia
Snow revolution
Mass demonstration
Ended in invasion of Crimea
Really bad for Putin’s regime
2020 constitutional referendum
Superiority of domestic constitutional law over International treaties;
- Limit the number of presidencies to 2 in total (but it settled the counter to 0 for past or
current office holders);
- Duma needs to approve prime-minister and government;
- Preventing citizens with foreign citizenship or residency to hold state offices;
- Russia is the successor of USSR;
- Truth in god ideology;
- Russian as language of state-forming nation (part of multinational union);
- Wedlock as a union between a man and a woman (and not
same sexes);
- Minimum wage;
- Pension indexation;
|
|—> All this elements of the constitution were voted in a Yes/No vote to accept or not the
entire constitution;
Voorkennis
Russia is the largest country in the world and one of the most populated
countries. This country has suffered a lot of territory conflict over the
years.
Cleavages
- Difficult to politicise in the absence of fair and free elections;
- Religious cleavage: put aside by revolution;
- Class cleavage: revolution and communism (state centralisation
instead of democratisation for working class); - Ethnic cleavage (overlap with centre-periphery cleavage);
Democracy vs authoritarianism
- 1990s: political liberalisation;
- Early 2000s: hybrid regime (since 2007 - one-party/person dominance);
- Since 2020 referendum, the regime became more authoritarian;
Presidential elections
- Majoritarian run-off (two rounds);
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|—> Round 1: all candidates (absolute majority wins - if not, round 2);
|—> Round 2: two candidates with most votes round 1 (absolute majority wins); - Entry restrictions: proposed by a party represented in Duma or 1/3 of federal legislatures; 300
000 signatures; candidates prohibited from running; - Only once a second round;
Semi-presidentialism and federalism
- Origins in new 1993 constitution with strong presidency;
- 85 federal sub-states entities with varying degrees of power;
- President directly elected (6 year terms);
- Parliament (Duma) directly elected;
- President proposes Prime-minister with approval of Duma;
- Presidential control over Prime-ministers and ministers;
- Weak parliamentary control-with dominant presidential party;
- Strong presidential influence in other national and regional institutions;
Duma elections
- Frequent system change: first past the post —> mixed-member majoritarian —> List-PR;
- Since 2016: Mixed member majoritarian;
|
|—> Also called “parallel voting”;
|—> Two votes (like in Germany): one national vote - 225 seats (PR among
| parties across regions); one district vote - 225 SMD seats (plurality wins);
|—> Majoritarian (not PR) because there are no PR compensation seats;
|—> 5% threshold on national votes;
Regime legitimation
- Huntington (1991) - strategies of legitimation;
|
|—> Democracy - input legitimacy (elections);
|—> Authoritarianism - output legitimacy (performance); - Soviet Union: ideological legitimation, later economic performance;
- Democratic legitimation strategies in the face of crisis;
- Putin’s Russia: order and stability; personal leadership and charisma; nationalism and “external
threats”;
Cooptation of oligarchs
- Privatisation and rise of oligarchs (1990s);
- Oligarchs crucial to Yeltsin’s reelection (1996);
- Putin fights the oligarchs and key companies are
nationalised (2000-2004);
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|—> Creation of new patronage networks (after 2004);
