RUSSIA Flashcards
ONE WORD
STRENGTH
Strength?
Values authoritarian leadership, political opponents
Legitimacy
Charismatic
Russia was “Never meant to be”
-governing over such a big landmass
- landlocked
- never found a working system
Russian Geography
- harsh weather
- crop failure
- isolation and ruggedness
Language Isolation
- never really a part of European or Asian language
- Just eastern language from Europe (Russian, Polish, Ukrainian)
Caesaropapism
combining secular (czar) and religious (Russian Orthodox Church) powers
Not really religious BUTTT
Cultural backwardness
- started serfdom late compared to Europe
- no real education system
- move toward autocracy
Marxism FAIL
Marxism was meant for developed/industrialized countries … Russia was not ready
Zemstovs
led Imperial Russia during the Great War since their government sucked, lead to the fall of Imperial Russia
Soviet
workers council
Bolshevik’s and their goals
- destroy constitutional illusions
- break down democracy and political freedom
- broke down Zemstovs
Bolshevik’s Settlement
“socialism in one country”
promote communism in other countries after achieving it themselves
Differing from Marxism
- ran by the elite, NOT the working class
- crushed peasant movement
- never actually advocated for the lower class
1922
the USSR is established
Pure Communism
- political and economic system of a classless, stateless state
- social organizations based on communal ownership in production
- limited private property
Pure Socialism
- economic ideology that allows collective or gov/state ownership
- gov. owns the means of production and operated them for public benefit
True Realities of Socialism and Communism
Communism: is not feasible, cannot have a stateless state, denies hierarchy and human nature
Socialism: feasible because of the political/state apparatus. can be used by many political systems
Proliteriat
-factory workers/laborers
-common or poor
-drinks coffee from gas station
Bourgeoisie
- factory owners
- elite
- drinks from starbucks
NOMENLATURA
soviet policy of appointing key administrative positions in the bureaucracy by the communist party (basically party loyalty and the spoils system - NOT EFFICIENT)
Glasnost
- Gorbachev
- USSR openness and transparency in gov. activities and information
Perestroika
-Gorbachev
-restructuring USSR economy and a little of their politics
Fall of USSR
-Late 1991
-gradual; taste of freedom gave way to floodgates of democracy
Semi-Presidential
a system of republican gov. governed by an elected president, a PM, and cabinet
Head of State
PRESIDENT
- 6 yr terms, 2 terms limits to NEW presidents - LOOPHOLED
- commander in chief, appoints ministers and judges, federal law, powerful
- RF citizen, 35+ y/o, never had foreign citizenship
- lived in RF 25 yrs +
Vice-President?
There is no Vice-President
2020 Presidential Amendments
- condemning LGBTQ - “a man and a woman”
- two term limit only for new presidents (not Putin and the other guy)
Head of Government
PRIME MINISTER
- 6 yr term with the President, no term limit
- decided by the president, no set of qualifications
- answers to Prez and State Duma, NOT A MEMBER OF LEGISLATIVE
Cabinet
- belongs to PM (but who are we kidding, it is run by the President)
- 32 ministers including PM
- not legislators
The Federal Assembly
State Duma (lower house) and Federation Council (upper house)
Federal Subjects
all of Russia’s republics, krias, oblasts, federal cities, autonomous oblasts, and okrugs
State Duma
- approves Prez’s pick for PM
- Vote of no confidence on PM (can impeach for 2/3 vote)
- 21 y/o+, Russian citizen, hold no other office or be civil servant
- 450 seats, Deputies, 5 yr term
- ELECTION: 225 directly elected by majority vote, 225 elected by proportional representative vote of party
Federation Council
- more formal, less political (not really political parties with struggles)
- 30 y/o +, Russian citizen, lived in federal subject for 5 yr+
- 178 seats, Senators, 5 yr term
- ELECTION: 2 from each of the Federal Subjects, 1 from Provincial Gov. and confirmed by Legislature
- Selection > Election
Putin and Oligarchs
Used them to gain power and money and then suppressed them and their power
Putin Tactics
Uses the Chechen War to stir up nationalism, suppressed wealthy and mafia, censorship, cyber war, “mysterious” deaths and jailing
Putin Successes
does make Russia more of a superpower and not to be messed with
Putin Failures
- economic downfall and sanctions
- isolated
- pariah country (outcast)
Illiberal Democracy
a democracy that is not “free nor fair”, basically a SUS democracy
