Politics in Russia

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Politics in Russia

• Difficult transition from communism

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Largest country in the world
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Russian population

• 141,377,752 (July 2007 estimate)
• comparison
• larger than that of Japan (127 million)
• smaller than that of US (301 million)
• 82 Russian
• largest minority Tatars 4
• 72 Orthodox
• largest minority Muslim 6

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Legacies of the tsarist era

• A millennium of autocratic rule
• hereditary monarchy
• not constrained by a constitution

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Legacies of the tsarist era

• need of governing a vast territory
• modernization of military economic potential
• growth of state power
• mobilization and unity to defend country
• national feeling based on pride
• in the greatness of the country
• in the strength of its people

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Russian Revolution of 1917

• Tsarist regime fell during World War I
• Bolshevik revolution in October 1917
• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924)
• Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• controlled all levels of govt.
• nomenklatura
• party state

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Soviet Union (USSR)

• Joseph Stalin
• totalitarian regime
• centralized political power
• industrial and military might
• staggering human cost
• collectivization
• purges
• World War II

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Stalins legacies

• rule of personalities (versus rule of law)
• succession crisis (versus regular elections)
• reliance on military and police
• bureaucratic distortions, resistance, and inertia
• de-stalinization (1950s 1960s)
• collective leadership
• deteriorating economic conditions

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Gorbachev

• General Secretary of CPSU (85-91)
• glasnost openness in political relations
• improve economic well-being
• contested elections
• law-governed state
• private enterprises
• informal social associations
• concessions to US
• revolutions in East Europe in 1989

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Collapse of the Soviet Union

• Unintended consequence of Gorbachevs reforms
• communist party rule broke down in the 15 soviet
  republics
• ascendance of Boris Yeltsin in elections
• elected Russian president in 1991 (57 vote)
• outlawed the Communist Party of Soviet Uni.
• Gorbachev resigned as president

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Yeltsin as president (1991-1999)

• Yeltsin demanded extraordinary powers from
  parliament to cope with the countrys economic
  problems
• power to carry out a program of radical
  market-oriented reform by presidential decree
• named himself acting prime minister
• young, Western-oriented government leaders
• determined to carry out decisive transformation

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Reformers versus opponents

• Economic reforms took effect in 1992
• prices skyrocketed (inflation rate 2323)
• political opposition to reform policies
• developments in 1993
• Yeltsin dissolved parliament
• bombed the parliament
• parliamentary election
• constitutional referendum

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The Yeltsin Constitution of 1993

• Yeltsin called a presidential republic
• President
• is directly elected by voters
• can dissolve parliament
• can issue decrees

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presidential power

• head of state
• guarantor of the constitution
• appoint government
• choice of prime minister is subject to the
  approval of parliament
• after three refusals to confirm presidents
  choice, president dissolves State Duma

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The Parliament

• Federal Assembly
• lower house
• State Duma
• upper house
• Federation Council

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The Parliament

• submission of draft legislation to State Duma
• by government
• by president
• or by members of the Federal Assembly
• individually or collectively

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Federation Council

• Every constituent unit of the federation is
  represented by 2 representatives
• populations of small ethnic-national territories
  are greatly over-represented
• after Putins reform in 2000, each governor and
  each regional legislature is to name a
  representative to the Federation Council
• after 1996, all governors are elected

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Legislative process

• State Duma gt Federation Council gt President
• if Federation Council rejects a bill
• State Duma may override (by 2/3 vote), or
• bicameral conciliation commission
• if president rejects a bill
• State Duma may override (by 2/3 vote), or
• bicameral conciliation commission

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Limit on presidential power

• President can not dissolve parliament
• within one year of parliamentary election
• if the parliament has filed impeachment against
  president
• if president has declared state of emergency
• within 6 months of expiration of presidents term

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Limit on presidential power

• Impeachment of president
• 2/3 majority in State Duma
• affirmation by the Supreme Court
• rule by the Constitutional Court
• 2/3 majority in Federation Council

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Constitutional Court

• judicial review by the Constitutional Court
• 19 members are
• nominated by the president
• confirmed by the Federation Council

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Constitutional Court

• empowered to consider the constitutionality of
  actions of
• the president
• the parliament
• lower level government
• ruled on relations
• between the 2 chambers
• between central and local governments

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Decline and recovery (GDP)
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