Chapter 12 Flashcards
Current president of Russia and when they took office
Vladimir Putin took office in 2012
Current prime minister of russia and when they took office
Mikhail Mishustin took office in 2020
“competitive authoritarian regimes
These are regimes where the rulers hold elections that allow opposition forces to run candidates but not to defeat the incumbents.
In the meantime, everyone understood that the real location of power had never changed—Putin had been the top leader the whole time. The country went through the formal motions of an election each time, but the election was closely controlled, and considerable fraud was used to guarantee the outcome. Putin’s hold of office since 2012
current policy challenges on russia
reduce independence on natural resources - oil
However, since 2010, Russia’s growth rate has been anemic. It currently runs at about 3 percent per year and is unlikely to grow much faster. A decline in world oil prices could again bring slower growth.
russia’s resource curse
This is the idea that in countries relying on windfall revenues from natural resources, the leaders avoid investing in the skills and knowledge of the population.
. As a result, such societies wind up with lower levels of economic and political development than in resource-poor countries.
Yet although President Putin and his government frequently call for more diversification and innovation in the economy, it is apparent that they lack effective policy instruments to bring it about.
Major reform requires an enormous and sustained exercise of power by the country’s political leaders to overcome the resistance of administrative and social groups to change
demographic problem in russia
deaths have outnumbered births. In-migration partly offsets natural population loss, but has brought other difficulties. Life expectancy at birth is very low, particularly for males, although it has risen in the last ten year. High barriers to geographic mobility, such as large distances, high transportation costs, and an illiquid housing market, reinforce the enormous differences in living standards across regions. Some regions are thriving, while others are mired in deep poverty and stagnation
summary of the tsarist regime
Russia used to be autocratic with a monarchy. Monarchy agreed to a constitution and legislative before taking it back. Lasting strain of absolutism(the tsar aspired to wield absolute power over the subjects of the realm), patrimonialism: ruler treated his realm as property that rather than as an autonomous community with its own legitimate rights and interests), orthodox church : Traditionally, it has exhorted its adherents to show loyalty to the state in worldly matters, in return for which it has sought a monopoly of spiritual power. This legacy is still manifest in the present-day rulers’ efforts to call upon the church to bless their rule and reinforce the social fabric, as well as in many Russians’ impulse to identify their state with a higher spiritual mission.
end of tsarist regime
Russia became large and tsarist order fell in 1917. The tsars attempted to legitimate their absolute power by appealing to tradition, empire, and divine right. They treated law as an instrument of rule, rather than a source of authority. The doctrines that rulers should be accountable to the ruled and that sovereignty resides in the will of the people were alien to Russian state tradition.
Communist revolution
Russian communists took power after the last tsar left and Vladimir Lenin was their first leader.
Joseph Stalin
president After Vladimir Lenin, 1924, during World War 2, had a totalitarian regime with a strong military.
Mikhail gorbachev
was elected general secretary of the CPSU in 1985, Emphasizing the need for greater openness—glasnost’—in society, the party’s effectiveness lay in improving the economic well- being of the country and its people. called for political democratization but also legalized private enterprise for individual and cooperative businesses and encouraged them to fill the many gaps in the economy left by the inefficiency of the state sector. elecitons were held in 1989 for many positions and led to development of Eastern Europe. Soviet Union crumbled in 1990.
Boris Yeltsin
Gorbachev’s rival in 1990 and gained the presidency in 1991. He outlawed the CPSU ( Communist Party of the Soviet Union) and dissolved the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in which russia raised its flag in 1992
September 21 1993
Yeltsin decreed the par-liament dissolved and called for elections for a new parliament. Yeltsin’s enemies barricaded themselves inside the parliament building. After a ten-day stand-off, the dissidents joined with some loosely organized paramilitary units outside the building and attacked the Moscow mayor’s offices adjacent to the Russian White House. They even called on their followers to “seize the Kremlin.” Finally, the army agreed to back Yeltsin and suppress the uprising by force, shelling the parliament building in the process.
the structure of the president
president in the strongest.
Has 6 year terms and no more than 2 consecutive terms,
names the prime minister,
must have the confidence in parliament
head of the executive
oversees ministries focused on law enforcement, armed forces, and security (foreign and defense ministries. etc.)
State Duma
lower house in parliment
must confirm the president’s nomination for prime minister
can be dissolved if the reject the nomination 3 times or pass 2 votes of no confidence
elected by using a mixed system of first past the post and proportional representation
