The Russian Federation

Question 1

Russia’s constitutional principle that gives uneven amounts of power and autonomy to the lower regional governments, particularly giving more local power in republics populated by non-Russian ethnic groups

Answer 1

Asymmetric federalism

Question 2

the property-owning middle class that came to wealth and political power during the Industrial Revolution

Answer 2

Bourgeoisie

Question 3

a foreign policy of the Soviet Union during the administration of Leonid Brezhnev that asserted the right to intervene militarily within neighboring communist states if the Communist Party was in danger of losing power

Answer 3

Brezhnev Doctrine

Question 4

a body of the Communist Party that is chosen by the larger Party Congress and is ostensibly empowered to choose the Politburo and senior leadership positions

Answer 4

Central Committee

Question 5

one of Russia’s regional republics, populated by the Chechen ethnic minority; a point of concern for Russia because of their separatist movements

Answer 5

Chechnya

Question 6

a period of prolonged conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States and European powers, lasting from the 1940’s to the 1980’s

Answer 6

Cold War

Question 7

the Soviet state’s brutal seizure of land and other property from the peasants cross the countryside as a part of jump-starting industrial development

Answer 7

Collectivization

Question 7

a political pamphlet, published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848, calling upon the world’s proletarian workers to organize a revolution against the bourgisie

Answer 7

Communist Manifesto

Question 8

one of the high courts in Russia that are empowered with judicial review over acts passed by the Duma

Answer 8

Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation

Question 9

a former Ukrainian Territory claimed by Russia in 2015

Answer 9

Crimea

Question 10

Vladimir Lenin’s model of making political decisions centrally within the inner party elite, though ostensibly for the benefit of the majority of people

Answer 10

Democratic centralism

Question 11

Nikita Khrushchev’s program of ending purges and the cult of personality around the Soviet Union’s leader in the aftermath of Joseph Stalin’s death

Answer 11

De-Stalinization

Question 12

a party system in which one party consistently controls the government, though other parties may also exist and run

Answer 12

Dominant-party system

Question 13

the lower and more powerful house of Russia’s legislature, representing the people of Russia based on population

Answer 13

Duma

Question 14

a bureaucratic agency empowered to approve or block NGOs from operating in Russia

Answer 14

Federal Public Chamber

Question 15

the upper house of Russia’s legislature wherein each regional government has equal representation

Answer 15

Federation Council

Question 15

Soviet plans for industrial development establishing production goals and quotas designed for a five-year period

Answer 15

five-year plans

Question 16

the senior leadership position in the Communist Party and the de-facto chief executive in the Soviet communist system

Answer 16

General Secretary

Question 17

Mikhail Gorbachev’s program of opening Soviet society to allow the formation of independent groups and reduce controls of freedom of expression

Answer 17

Glasnost

Question 18

forced-labor camps for political prisoners in remote parts of the USSR during the Soviet era

Answer 18

Gulag

Question 19

the individual in the executive branch responsible for the day-to-day operation of the government

Answer 19

Head of Government

Question 20

the individual in the executive branch who acts as the ceremonial symbol of the country at public events

Answer 20

Head of state

Question 20

a regime in which, despite the fact that elections determine who holds political office and wields power, protection of civil rights and liberties is missing and the fairness and competitiveness of elections are questionable

Answer 20

Illiberal Democracy

Question 21

a metaphor used to describe the division of Europe between communist countries and liberal democracies

Answer 21

Iron Curtain

Question 22

landowning peasants who were persecuted in Joseph Stalin's collectivization program

Answer 22

Kulaks

Question 23

an extreme right-wing nationalist minority opposition party in Russia

Answer 23

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)

Question 24

a scandal in the 1996 Russian presidential election in which Boris Yeltsin's campaign received loans and favorable media coverage from wealthy oligarchs, after which the Russian government sold shares to the state-owned companies to the oligarchs at apparent discounted prices

Answer 24

"Loans for shares" scandal

Question 24

a political and economic philosophy, based on the ideals of Karl Marx, that seeks to create a classless society through shared ownership of the means of production

Answer 24

Marxism

Question 25

a youth group created and funded by the Russian state that worked for the election and agenda of Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev

Answer 25

Nashi

Question 26

reforms made by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 until his death in 1924; they allowed collective farmers to sell excess produce for profit

Answer 26

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Question 27

the process of elite recruitment in communist systems, whereby leaders at higher levels of the power hierarchy provide the names of those they would like to see promoted from the lower levels

Answer 27

Nomenklatura

Question 28

a small number of individuals controlling a massive amount of wealth and potentially controlling political processes through their wealth, particularly regarding Russia

Answer 28

Oligarchs

Question 29

a political party without a defining ideology that makes policies with the primary goal of remaining in power

Answer 29

Party of power

Question 30

Mikhail Gorbachev's economic reforms allowing limited role for markets, rather than the state, to determine what would be produced

Answer 30

Perestroika

Question 31

the use of media, propaganda, spectacles, social controls, and other mechanisms, by the state to promote an idealized and heroic image of country's leader

Answer 31

Personality cult

Question 32

In communist parties, the senior leadership group that also acts as the executive branch in most cases

Answer 32

Politburo

Question 33

In Marxism, the working-class laborers who are exploited by capitalism for the benefit of the bourgeoisie

Answer 33

Proletariat

Question 34

Joseph Stalin's program of eliminating potential opposition figures within the Communist Party through arrest and murder

Answer 34

Purges

Question 35

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin's program of rapid conversion from a command economy to a market economy

Answer 35

Shock Therapy

Question 36

in Russia, people who have worked in the security services, such as the military or police forces

Answer 36

Siloviki

Question 37

a description of Russians who oppose westernization of their own culture and prefer to protect and preserve Russian traditions

Answer 37

Slavophile

Question 38

a belief that the state should take a central role in protecting and providing for the society

Answer 38

Statism

Question 39

one of the two high courts in Russia, that are empowered as the highest courts of appeals

Answer 39

Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

Question 40

a regime transitioning from authoritarianism to liberal democracy but where democracy has not yet been consolidated

Answer 40

Transitional democracy

Question 41

an election system that requires a candidate to receive a majority of the vote to win and take office; if no candidate receives a majority in the first round of voting, a runoff is held between the top two candidates

Answer 41

Two-ballot majority

Question 42

the dominant political party of Russia since 2004, often characterized as the party of power

Answer 42

United Russia party

Question 43

a Russian who sees adopting Western culture and practices as the best path toward modernization and development in Russia

Answer 43

Westernizer

Question 44

Russia's constitution, drafted after the collapse of the Soviet Union

Answer 44

Constitution of 1993

Question 45

a party created from the remnants of the powerful Communist Party of the Soviet Union; now a minority opposition party in Russia

Answer 45

Communist Party of the Russia Federation