ROLLON, Edel

TABALINGCOS, Nina
TANCONGCO, Miguel
AREA: 17 million sq. km. (6.5 million sq. mi.)
CITIES:
CAPITAL: Moscow (10.4 million)
St. Petersburg (4.6 million)
Novosibirsk (1.4 million)
Nizhniy Novgorod (1.3 million)
TERRAIN: Broad plain with low hills west of
Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in
Siberia; uplands and mountains (Caucasus
range) along southern borders.
CLIMATE: Northern continental.


NATIONALITY NOUN AND ADJECTIVE: Russian(s).
POPULATION: 142.9 million.
ETHNIC GROUPS: Russian, Tatar, Ukrainian, Bashkir,
Chuvash, other.
RELIGION: Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism,
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, other.
LANGUAGE: Russian (official),
140+ languages & dialects.
LITERACY: 99.4%
LIFE EXPECTANCY:
63.03 years (Men); 74.87 years (Women)
WORK FORCE: 75.49 million.
GDP: $1.477 trillion.
NATURAL RESOURCES: Petroleum, natural gas,
timber, furs, precious and nonferrous metals.
AGRICULTURE PRODUCTS: Grain, sugar beets,
sunflower seeds, meat, dairy products.
INDUSTRY TYPES: Automobiles, trucks, trains,
agricultural equipment, advanced aircraft,
aerospace, machine and equipment products;
mining and extractive industry; medical and
scientific instruments; construction equipment.
MAJOR MARKETS: EU, CIS, China, Japan.
MAJOR PARTNERS: EU, CIS, Japan, China, U.S.
NORTHERN BORDERS: Arctic Ocean.
EASTERN BORDERS: Bering Sea, Sea of
Okhotsk.
SOUTHERN BORDERS: North Korea, China,
Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
and the Black Sea.
WESTERN BORDERS: Ukraine, Belarus,
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and
Norway.
KALININGRAD OBLAST (region) EXCLAVE:
Poland, and Lithuania.
Tyranny
Eastern Orthodox from Constantinople
Slavic Language with a Cyrillic Alphabet



Tatar (Mongols) Conquest (13
th
century)
Tsar
Autocracy: absolute rule of one person in a
centralized state.
Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584)
Territorial expansion by the sword.
Absolutism: royal dictatorship in which king
amasses all power.
Caesaropapism: combining the top civil ruler
with the top spiritual ruler as Russias tsars
(caesar and pope).
Peter I (1682-1725)
Forced modernization in Russia.
A country that missed out on (Western)
European development.

Westernizers: copy the West.
For constitutional monarchy to limit tsars power.
The liberal reformers.
Slavophiles: develop without the West.
Cultivate own roots and develop by themselves.
The conservative authoritarians.
Intelligentsia: the educated class.
Communism: economic theories of Marx
combined with organization of Lenin.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin
Bolshevik (majority) Soviet Communist
party; Menshevik (minority) moderate.
Russo-Japanese War
Tsar Nicholas II
important reforms: freedom of speech, press,
and assembly and the democratic election of a
Duma (Russias national parliament)
1905 October Revolution
World War I
Soviet: council.

War Communism: temporary strict socialism
in Russia (1918-1921).
New Economic Policy (NEP): Lenins
approach to allowing private activity (1921-
1928).
Yosif Vissarionovich Djugashvili (Joseph
Stalin)
Five-Year Plan: Stalins version of forced
modernization in 1928.
Communist Party of the Soviet Union gensek.
purges
Cold War: period of armed tension and
competition between the United States and the
Soviet Union (approx. 1947-1989)
Mikhail Gorbachev: politburo (Communist political
bureau) member turned party leader and then
1985 General Secretary of the CPSU who carried
out a reform program by calling out for political
democratization through the concept of
Glasnost (openness): the policy of media openness.
pravovoe gosudarstvo (law-governed state): state
power would be subordinate to the law.
Junta Coup against the government (August 1991)
led to
Communisms Fall and USSRs Seceded Republics:
East Slavic States (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine)
Baltic States^ (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
South Caucasian States (Armenia, Azerbaijan*,
Georgia)
Central Asian States* (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)
Romanian State (Moldova)
^Not in the Commonwealth of Independent States
* Predominantly Muslim
Boris Yeltsin: Gorbachevs rival who won
election as Chairman of the Russian Supreme
Soviet (June 1990), eventually becoming
Russias first President (1991).
Used economic reforms and privatization to
prevent reversion to state socialism (1992).
Adopted constitutional amendments,
parliamentary dissolution and elections
(1993).
Boris Yeltsin resigned being president,
turning over his powers (1999) to then prime
minister Vladimir Putin.
The political regime changed from
communism to democracy which, over the
course of Russias more recent events,
actually brought more misery than progress
because the government maintained the
stability of their State institutions.
Russia seeks unity in political, economic,
social, and cultural levels.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: KGB bureaucrat
later turned President who successfully
maintained and strengthened authoritarian rule.
St. Petersburgs Vice Mayor (1994)
Supervisor at Kremlin (1998)
Boris Yeltsins Prime Minister (1999)
Acting President (1999)
President by election (2000)
Kompromat
KGB: Committee on State Security; Russias
security/secret police.

International Relations: Integrate itself into
the international system economically and
politically more deeply.
Economy: Engage in a course of high and
self-sustaining economic growth through the
discipline of the market and incentives for
investment.
Politics: Rebuild the power of the central
government by tightening administrative
discipline in Russia.
GOVERNMENT TYPE:
Federation.
DATE OF INDEPENDENCE:
August 24, 1991.
DATE OF LATEST CONSTITUTION:
December 12, 1993.
SUFFRAGE:
Universal at 18 years.
MAJOR:
7 huge regions set up by Putin in 2000, overseen by his
hand-picked super-governors
LESSER:
83 federal subjects (members of the Federation)
21 republics, major non-Russian nationals homelands
9 krais (territories)
46 oblasts (provinces), Russian populated
2 federal cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg
1 autonomous oblast
4 autonomous okrugs (districts), special status
oblast/krai
Complex and confusing.
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS
Rebuilding national community in post-Soviet
Russia has been helped by its thousand-year
history of statehood.
From a multinational empire to a Federal
Union of (Soviet) Socialist Republics
Insistence to the ethnic groups to adhere to
Russian culture.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS
Republics, autonomous districts and the
autonomous oblast give certain political
rights to populations living in territories with
significant ethnic minorities.
Oblasts and krais are simply administrative
subdivisions with no special constitutional
status.
Putins merging small ethnic units.
Facing personal dictatorships.
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS
Special status security guarded by the ethnic
republics.
Chechen Republic (Chechnya): mountainous
region of the North Caucasus between the
Black & Caspian Seas.
Tatar Republic: The second of two ethnic
republics that attempted independence from
Russia (1990-1992).
Beslan Tragedy (North Ossetia, Chechnya;
September 2004)
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS
The political system allows considerable
room for the arbitrary exercise of power and
even the evisceration of democracy.
Expansive use of presidential powers from both
Yeltsin and Putin.
The web of political institutions surrounding
formal constitutional rules strongly shapes
the way officeholders wield power.
Delegative democracy and oligarchy.
Steady restoration of authoritarian rule.
RUSSIAN RULERS SINCE 1917:
1. Vladimir Lenin (1917-1924)
2. Joseph V. Stalin (1924-1953)
3. Nikita S. Khrushchev (1953-1964)
4. Leonid I. Brezhnev (1964-1982)
5. Yuri V. Andropov (1982-1984)
6. Konstantin U. Chernenko (1984-1985)
7. Mikhail S. Gorbachev (1985-1991)
8. Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999)
9. Vladimir Putin (2000-2012)
10.Dmitriy Medvedev (2012- )

EXECUTIVE BRANCH:
CHIEF OF STATE:
President Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV
- appoints the Prime Minister as head of government;
issues decrees with the force of law (may not
supersede legislation).
- Four-year term; two-term limit.
Head of State
Guarantor of the Constitution
Commander-in-Chief
Federal and Regional Government Supervisor
Clearance Provider for Political Undertakings
Security Council and State Council
EXECUTIVE BRANCH:
HEAD OF GOVERNMENT:
Premier Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN
head; deals with economic and social policy and
power ministry (concerns of coercion, law
enforcement, and state security)
NOT directly determined by the party
composition of the parliament.
members: Career Managers and Administrators
over Party Politicians (loyalty, competence, and
strength over popularity)

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: PARLIAMENTARY; Federal
Assembly approves bills to become laws

UPPER HOUSE: Federation Council (federal
regions; party system/structures over
constitutional rules)

LOWER HOUSE: State Duma (single-member
district & party-list proportion)

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH:
State Duma Member Elections:
1
st
225/450: single-member districts
2
nd
225/450: party lists
United Russia: very politically active pro-
Putin party holding two-thirds of the seats in
the Duma.
Fed. Council: (89 units x 2 representatives)
Approves presidential nominees for high courts,
(Supreme Court and Constitutional Court)
presidential decrees (martial law, state of
emergency), and legislations.
JUDICIARY BRANCH:
Constitutional Court
Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Arbitration
Office of Procurator General
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
Nineteen members are nominated by the
President but are subject to confirmation by
the Council of the Federation.
Provided for judicial review.
Consistently defended the rights of individual
defendants in the criminal justice system.
Upheld the sovereignty of federal law over
the rights of the constituent territories of
the federation.
ALL POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES IN RUSSIA THROUGHOUT
HISTORY:
1. Leftist
2. Communist
3. Socialist
4. Liberal / Democratic
5. Centrist
6. Nationalist (both left and right)
7. Parties of Power patronage parties with strong
official sponsorship; both state officials and
voters enjoy favor of power-holding.
POLITICAL PARTIES:
1. UNITED RUSSIA (pro-Putin; party of power)
2. THE COMMUNIST PARTY (KPRF; socialist)
3. THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (LDPR; right
nationalist)
4. JUST RUSSIA
5. YABLOKO (liberal/democratic)
6. PATRIOTS OF RUSSIA / MOTHERLAND (left
nationalist)
7. RIGHT CAUSE PARTY / UNION OF RIGHT-WING
FORCES (reformist)
INTEREST GROUPS: (all ASSOCIATIONAL groups)
1. THE RUSSIAN UNION OF INDUSTRIALISTS
AND ENTREPRENEURS (RUIE)
2. THE LEAGUE OF COMMITTEE OF SOLDIERS
MOTHERS
3. FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT TRADE
UNIONS OF RUSSIA (FITUR)
Communist Party in Command
Less-Important State Structure
A Centralized Federal System
A Gigantic Bureaucracy
Central Economic Planning
A Commonwealth of Independent States

New Constitution:
A Strong President
A Prime Minister
A Federal System
A Bicameral Parliament
A Proportional Electoral System
A Constitutional Court
A Party System under Construction

Russia is a work in progress with much
potential for achieving true democracy if
only its people will push themselves for it.
RUSSIA POST-SOVIET PERIOD:
Autocratic rule.
Rapid but uneven progress of educational and
living standards in the 20
th
century.
Rising exposure to Western standards of political
life.
A sturdy core of commitment to democratic
values accompanied by pronounced
disillusionment with the way democratization
and market reforms have worked out in the
country.
Institutions (From most to least trusted):
Former President Putin (53%)
Army; Governor of Region (34%)
Television (29%)
Federal Security Service (FSB) (26%)
Newspapers (25%)
Constitutional Court (24%)
Police (15%)
SMD representative (11%)
Directors of industrial enterprises; Duma members
(8%)
Bankers & Financiers; Parties (6%)

Institutions (From most to least influential):
Former President Putin (79%)
Bankers & Financiers; Parties (59%)
Governor of Region (54%)
Television (43%)
Federal Security Service (FSB) (42%)
Army (38%)
Directors of industrial enterprises; Duma members (36%)
Newspapers (33%)
Constitutional Court (29%)
Police (28%)
SMD representative (23%)

Democratic Freedom vs. Guaranteed Income:

If state guarantees to me a normal wage and
decent pension, I am prepared to give up
freedom of speech and the right to travel
freely abroad.

Agree 26%
Agree > Disagree 17%
Agree < Disagree 23%
Disagree 25%

There is extensive support for democratic
institutions and processes when people see
them as for their rights.
Unpopular minorities gets less support from
extending rights.
People most exposed to modern civilizations
influence are most likely to support
democratic values.


Perestroika (restructuring): the policy or
practice of reforming the economic and
political system, practiced in the 1980s
under Mikhail Gorbachev.
Democratization and economic liberalization
became associated with the breakdown of
social and economic order since the late
1980s. Democracy seems more unattainable
despite it actually being valued for rights and
freedoms.
Both nostalgia for the old order and
aspirations for a better future set standards
by which people judge the current regime
harshly.
Strangely, Russians ascribe the greatest
power to some of the institutions in which
they have the lowest confidence.
President Putin gets as much confidence as
he has influence over the country.
Russians prize their right to criticize their
authorities.
Political indoctrination and propaganda
(politically controlled)
The way in which a society organizes its
production determines the structure of
values and beliefs prevalent in the society.
The ruling class in each society determines the
basic ideology of the society.
Commonwealth of Independent States
Contradictory forces express both aspirations
and attitudes to the real modernization of
Russia.
Democratic Freedoms vs. Economic Security
Shaping Factors:
Succession of Generations
Rising Educational Levels
Urbanization

Idealistic: democracy (freedoms and rights)
Skeptical: actual performance/outcome of
politics in Russia

Equality of Opportunity vs. Equality of Results
Citizens take part in public life influencing
the quality of government.
Direct: voting, party work, cause organization,
demonstrations, and lobbying.
Indirect: membership in civic groups and
voluntary associations.
Levels of participation across groups in the
population very with differences in
resources, opportunities, and motivations.
Varies across groups in the population with
differences in resources, opportunities and
motivations.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL
Participation in civic life builds social capital
reciprocal bonds of trust and obligation among
citizens that facilitate collective action.
De Tocquevilles time part of democracy
Robert Putman participation in civic life builds
social capital - reciprocal bonds of trust and
obligation among citizens that facilitate
collective action.
Capitalism & democratic government relies on
peoples ability to cooperate for mutual benefit

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL (RUSSIA)
The gap between state and society still exists
today in Russias attitudes and behavior.
Futility, skepticism, and disbelief in Russian
politics.
Generally passive to withdrawn participation
even in major apolitical institutions.
Russians are still socially involved; just simply
not in their own politics.
Parliamentary
Presidential
ELITE RECRUITMENT
The institutional processes in a society by
which people gain access to positions of
influence and responsibility.
Closely tied to political participation: taking
on leadership roles, learn civic skills
(organization and persuasion), develop
networks of friends and supporters, and
become interested in pursuing political
careers.
ELITE RECRUITMENT (RUSSIA)
Formalized
Sponsored Organizations
nomenklatura (nomenclature): the system
for recruiting, training, and appointing
individuals for positions of leadership and
responsibility in the regime.
Ruling class in Soviet society fall under this
system.
The Mask of Legitimacy
The Illusion of Ideology
The Rediscovery of Civil Society
Natural Egalitarians?
Russian Racism
Gaps in Philosophy, Morality, Economy, and
Lawfulness

A Culture of Insecurity
Russian Paranoia/Norm
BETWEEN STATISM AND PLURALISM:
Tens of thousands of NGOsodd for a
Communist society.
Still reflecting the powerful impact of state
control over society; history showed a
regulation of interests, restricted to those of
the States.
Glasnost stimulated an explosion of political
expression, prompting groups to form and
make political demands and participate in
elections.
BETWEEN STATISM AND PLURALISM:
Monopoly to market economy transition
opened up free expression of diverse
interests, awakening Russias society to
common ground and inciting more political
openness.
Pluralism over corporatism.
1. THE RUSSIAN UNION OF INDUSTRIALISTS AND
ENTREPRENEURS (RUIE) - single-most powerful
organized interest group formed by both the old
state industrial firms and new financial-
industrial conglomerates headed by oligarchs.
Lobbying efforts directed to win the states
continued support towards industrial firms and
transition to market economy
Yukos incident affected the groups relationship
with Putin
2. THE LEAGUE OF COMMITTEE OF SOLDIERS
MOTHERS
Formed during the glasnost period by approx.
300 women who rallied in Moscow
Centered on the problems of military service
Became one of the most sizeable and
respected civic group
Hostilities in Chechnya caused the group to
provide a new set of activities
Independent of the government
3. FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT TRADE
UNIONS OF RUSSIA (FITUR)
Succeeded the official trade union federation
the RUIE during Soviet era
Largest trade union federation in Russia
Utilized inherited valuable real estate assets
from predecessor organization
Illustrates a clientelistic relationship with
political authorities

NEW SECTORS OF INTEREST

Yeltsin V.S. Putin
-Politicization often took in
forms of corruption which
includes bribing parliament
deputies and government
officials.
-collective action done by
business and other sectors
of interest
-more open in negotiating
policy details
-interest groups grew more
dependent on the goodwill
of the president for access
-organizations demand
through the mass media,
the parliament, and the
government
-policy- making again
became more centralized
Political parties are the quintessential structure
for generalizing various demands of the
population.
Frequently associated with particular politicians
personality rather than specific ideological stances
Organized more around patronage instead of
mobilizing support for the achievement of
programmatic goals
Democratic, nationalist or communist ideology
Party of power patronage parties with strong
official sponsorship (United Russia)
Presidential system
ELECTIONS AND PARTY DEVELOPMENT
1989 & 1990
1993 & 1995
1996
1999
PUTIN AND THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL RACE
2003 & 2004
THE LAW-GOVERNED STATE
1. THE PROCURACY
2. THE JUDICIARY
3. THE BAR
4. CONSTITUTIONAL ADJUDICATION
OBSTACLES TO THE RULE OF LAW
Abuse of legal institutions by the political
authorities and endemic corruption in state
and society.
Security police autonomy: police harassment
and criminal prosecution
Civil action: bankruptcy proceedings
CORRUPTION - relatively widespread
Bribery
Organized crimes
Unchanged expectations on State politics


DUAL TRANSITION
Russias political and economic remake post-
communism.

Democracy still carries a price to paythat
which may not always be realistically met by
few countries which is what Russia had to
learn.
1. STABILIZATION
2. FROM COMMUNISM TO CAPITALISM
3. PRIVATIZATION
4. CONSEQUENCES OF PRIVATIZATION
5. SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Why did the Soviet Union collapse?
How can Russia reform?
Why does Russia want to and should it
recover the lost republics (the near abroad)?
Which ideology will Russia subscribe to best?
Why did shock therapy work in Poland but
not in Russia?
What is the matter with Chechnya?
The importance of international integration.
Western States (America and Europe)
World Trade Organization critical for the
economy.
Trade and investments.
Existence of political resistance remains in
few but key issues (Chechnya).
Acknowledgement of its own
interdependence.
The end of communism made it easier to
start making and developing relations.
COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
EAST SLAVIC STATES
SOUTH CAUCASIAN STATES
CENTRAL ASIAN STATES
BALTIC STATES
WEST SLAVIC STATES
STATES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

UNITED STATES
PHILIPPINES
UNITED KINGDOM
FRANCE
GERMANY
JAPAN
CHINA
MEXICO
BRAZIL
EGYPT
INDIA
NIGERIA
IRAN
Almond, G. A., et al. (2006). Comparative
politics today: A world view (8th Edition).
New York: Pearson/Longman.
Roskin, M. G. (2007). Countries and concepts:
Politics, geography, culture (9
th
Edition). New
Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3183.ht
m
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/th
e-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
www.wordreference.com