Russia

Question 1

Russia Legislative Executive System

Answer 1

Semi-presidential (in practice very presidential)
- 1993: New constitution; strong presidency
- President directly elected (6 year terms)
- Parliament (Duma) directly elected
- Government depends on parliamentary majority
- In practice
o Prime minister and ministers appointed by president
o Parliamentary control is nearly absent
o Reality is very different from constitution (see Putin-Medvedev swap)

Question 2

Type of democracy / authoritarianism Russia

Answer 2

Authoritarian despite formal democratic institutionsU

Question 3

Unitary of Federal Russia

Answer 3

Federal
Asymmetric Federalism
Centralisation of power increasing lately (8 new districts)

Question 4

Head of State Russia

Answer 4

President
President

Nominates PM, ministers, governor, judges

Commander-in-chief

Can dissolve parliament

Veto powers (can be overruled by 2/3 Duma majority)

Central figure in domestic and foreign affairs

Question 5

Head of Government Russia

Answer 5

Prime Minister

Question 6

Lower House Russia

Answer 6

State Duma
- 450 members, elected for 5 year term
- On paper has several important powers
o The right to improve the prime-minister
o No confidence vote against the president
 President can ignore
 The second one he cannot ignore, but he can dissolve the duma
- Nowadays not a lot of power

Mixed Member Majoritarian
o Also called: parallel voting
o Two votes: one national, one district (like in Germany)
 Both 225 seats
o District seats added to national seat
o Result is majoritarian (non-proportional)
o 5% threshold (national votes

Question 7

Upper House Russia

Answer 7

Federation Council

Geographic representation. Even weaker than the Duma

Question 8

Judiciary Russia

Answer 8

Constitutuional Court
Politicised Judiciary
Legal Nihilism (laws are just a facade + constitution is meaningless)

Question 9

Electoral system Russia

Answer 9

Mixed member Majoritarian (parallel voting) for Duma

Federation council appointed by legislative and executive

Two-round majoritarian for president

Question 10

Political Economy Russia

Answer 10

Schock Therapy
Double Shock
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Euroasian Economic Union (EAEU)
Insider Privatisation
Nomenklatura
Resource trap

Question 11

Insider Privatisation

Answer 11

A process in Russia whereby the former nomenklatura directors of firms were able to acquire the largest
share when those firms were privatized.

Question 12

Nomenklatura

Answer 12

Politically sensitive or influential jobs in the state, society, or economy that were staffed by people
chosen or approved by the Communist Party.
Important political functions in the party are distributed on the basis of loyalty and not merit.

Question 13

Resource Trap

Answer 13

The argument is that where natural resources are a major part of the economy and owned by the state,
they run the risk of giving the state and government too much economic power while stifling other forms
of economic development.
Examples: Russia / Iran

Question 14

Regime Legitimisation

Answer 14

How to legitimise your reign

Question 15

Output Legitimacy

Answer 15

legitimising power through the output of your reign

Question 16

Parties

Answer 16

Parties of power: United Russia

Systemic Opposition: CPRF, LDPR

Liberal / Anti-System parties: Yabloko / Russia of the Future

Question 17

Snow Revolution

Answer 17

Spontaneous large-scale protests emerge during times of economic uncertainty (a common trait in
authoritarian regimes is a real fear of sudden popular uprisings)
Enormous masses of people protested after 2011 Duma Elections which were widely seen as
corrupt.
Large-scale protests increasingly common
Suppression of protest leaders also increasingly common

Question 18

Russia’s Special Path

Answer 18

Resembles American Exceptionalism (that Russia has a rightful place as a superpower among nations),
and used by political elites to legitimise political system and foreign policy.
Emphasis on Russian exceptionalism and morality (the russian bear that cannot be tamed by
foreign powers)
Sovereign democracy - focus on order
Restoration of superpower status
Re-orientation towards (Central) Asia (such as Kazakhstan, Iran and China) - A shift from Yeltsin’s
focus on Western powers

Question 19

Glasnost

Answer 19

Political Openness

Question 20

Perestroika

Answer 20

economic Restructuring

Question 21

Siloviki

Answer 21

Men of power who have their origins in the security agencies and are close to President Putin. People Putin relies on for keeping power

Question 22

Three Russian Revolution

Answer 22

1905 Revolution - Over the (difficult and losing) war with Japan
1917 February Revolution - After WW1: Tsar replaced by a non-communist republican
government, which continued the war resulting in…
1917 October Revolution - Bolsheviks (under Lenin and Trotsky) took power and abolished the
previous government

Question 23

Party of Power

Answer 23

Russian parties created by political elites to support their political aspirations; typically lacking any
ideological orientation.

Example: United Russia Party

Question 24

Systemic Opposition Parties

Answer 24

Parties which participate in the Duma and therefore legitimise the regime, but rarely (if ever) votes
against the ruling party.
Example: Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

Question 25

Anti-System Party

Answer 25

Parties which actively oppose the party of power.
Example: Yabloko / Russia of the Future. Increasingly operate outside the parliamentary system.

Question 26

Shock Therapy

Answer 26

A process of rapid marketization

Question 27

Double Shock

Answer 27

Yeltsin
Liberalisation of economy and political system
Economically: Communist to Capitalist Economy
Politically: Communist to Western Democracy
= largely seen by Russians as worst period in Russia’s recent history, with resulting negative
reception towards liberalisation

Question 28

Co-optation

Answer 28

A mechanism by which members of the public are brought into a beneficial relationship with the state and government
In Russia through oligarchs

Question 29

Soviet Union

Answer 29

1922-1991
Single-party authoritarian regime
- Lenin
* rapid industrialization
* Gulags and famines
1940s emergence as Superpower
1960s-1980s, economic decline, Lenin died
1985-1991 Gorbachev with Glasnost and Perestroika

Question 30

Constitutional Referendum Russia

Answer 30

• 206 constitutional amendments
  o In one package
• Russian constitution above international law
• Presidential term limits abolished
• Social security provisions codified
• Ban on same-sex marriage; ensuring patriotic education