russia 243-251 Flashcards
(20 cards)
runaway system
powerful people who use their resources to continuously increase their power (using resources to get more resources and on and on and on)
glasnost
media openness- one of the reforms by Gorbachev (the other is perestroika)
perestroika
(gorbachev) reform program emphasizing economic reconstructuring
shock therapy
(Yeltsin) sudden converting economy from socialist to free enterprise/ capitalism
cult of personality
(khrushcev about stalin) proces by which a strong leader has himself worshiped
totalitarianism
government control over all aspects of society
oligarchs
an elite group that possess great influence over the government and society (during yeltsin’s shock therapy, oligarchs bought stalks from uneducated russians and built an empire)
mafia
an organised criminal network
authoritarianism
a dictatorship that does not attempt to control every aspect of society
yuri andropov
opposed coups in 1991 and 1993 but left office amid charges of corruption
nikolai ogarkov
soviet chief of staff in the 1980’2 who warned of technological inferiority
Alexander litvinenko
media oligarch who fled Russia and now lives in exile in brtian
vladimir putin
soviet leader and former KGB head, used gorbachev as a top assistant
nikita khrushchev
denounced Stalin’s crimes at the 20th communist party congress
mikhail khodorkovsky
yukos owner, he has been convicted of income tax evasion and imprison
boris berezovsky
Putin critic who was murdered in london
mikhail Gorbacherv
last leader of the USSR, he changed course on reform too many times. reforms; Glastnost and perestroika
anna politkovskaya
journalist who was murdered
boris yeltsin
authoritarian leader who has moved Russia away from democracy
six characteristics of totalitarianism
- an official ideology
- a single, disciplined party
- terroristic police control
- party monopoly of the mass media
- party control of the armed forces
- central direction of the economy
