Transcript Politics in Russia

Politics in Russia
Difficult transition from
communism
Largest country in the world
Russian population
• 142,893,540 (July 2006 estimate)
– comparison
• larger than that of Japan (127 million)
• smaller than that of US (296 million)
• 82% Russian
– largest minority: Tatars 4%
• 72% Orthodox
– largest minority: Muslim 6%
Legacies of the tsarist era
• A millennium of autocratic rule
– hereditary monarchy
– not constrained by a constitution
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
Russian Revolution of 1917
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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
Soviet Union (USSR)
• Joseph Stalin
– totalitarian regime
– centralized political power
– industrial and military might
• staggering human cost
– collectivization
– purges
– World War II
Stalin’s legacies
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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
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
Collapse of the Soviet Union
• Unintended consequence of Gorbachev’s
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
Yeltsin as president (1991-1999)
• Yeltsin demanded extraordinary powers
from parliament to cope with the country’s
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
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
The Yeltsin Constitution of 1993
• Yeltsin called a
“presidential republic”
• President
– is directly elected by
voters
– can dissolve
parliament
– can issue decrees
presidential power
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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 president’s
choice, president dissolves State Duma
The Parliament
• Federal Assembly
• lower house
– State Duma
• upper house
– Federation Council
The Parliament
• submission of draft legislation to State
Duma
– by government
– by president
– or by members of the Federal Assembly
• individually or collectively
Federation Council
• Every constituent unit of the federation is
represented by 2 representatives
• populations of small ethnic-national
territories are greatly over-represented
• after Putin’s reform in 2000, each governor
and each regional legislature is to name a
representative to the Federation Council
• after 1996, all governors are elected
Legislative process
• State Duma => Federation Council =>
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
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 president’s
term
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
Constitutional Court
• judicial review by the
Constitutional Court
• 19 members are
– nominated by the president
– confirmed by the Federation
Council
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
Russia’s GDP growth rate (%)
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
-16
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2002
Decline and recovery (GDP)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2002