Global Studies II

Unit II Russia

Name Niko Barattucci

Russian Democracy Has Disappeared?

- Clifford J. Levy, New York Times
Directions: After reading the article mentioned above, answer the questions below. Please
answer in complete sentence format.
1. What is human rights? According t o the author, identify human rights issues the current
political regime in Russia have violated.
Human rights are things that every person has no matter what and it is what defines a democratic
government. Some human rights that were violated were the freedom of speech. This freedom was
violated when the people would have rallies or unauthorized demonstrations. They were taken and
detained by government officials for no reason.

2. Identify political corruption issues Mr. Levy identifies in Russia today.

When there was an election held in 1999, Putin was elected improperly. This happened when
busloads of people were transported around the country to vote for Putin under different names.
This was proven when more people voted for Putin in Chechnya then there were registered voters.

3. How does Mr. Gorbechev, the previous Russian premier, feel about the current leaders? Why
does he feel this way?
He feels that the country has become less free. He feels this way by the justice system has
changed and that he thinks democracy is getting in the way.

4. The caption for the picture on page one is titled, Batman and Robin. Explain this caption.
That Medvedev helps Putin win the election by a landslide and come back into office. This caption
shows how they both work together to achieve their goals and bring Putin back into power. Also
this caption also compares Putin and Medvedev to Batman and Robin in the sense that both groups
only fought problems one at a time and took a very long time to resolve issues.

5. According to the author [and Mr. Gorbechev, democracy begins with:

Elections, accountability, and turnover.

6. In addition to the aspects of democracy identified above, which other key ingredient is
necessary for a democracy? According to the author, how does Russia meet this ingredient?
Back up your answer with facts.
Another key aspect of democracy is respect for the rule of law. Russia meets this by the police
detaining any one attending unauthorized demonstrations. Also Russia put Mikhail Khodorkovsky in
jail for supporting opposition political parties and was sent to jail. While in jail Putin bought
Mikhail multibillion Oil Company. This shows how they show respect for the rule of law.

7. Identify two cases the author identifies where the Russian government has failed the
democratic test.
First, Russia has failed the democratic test when Putin had rigged the election so that he would be
the winner in most of the polls. Secondly, Russias government had failed the democratic test when
peoples human rights were taken away during protests or rallies.