Russian – Flashcard
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Population Capital Total area Currency
answer
142 million Moscow million square miles ruble
question
Natural resources
answer
oil, natural gas, minerals, and extensive forests Oil and natural gas are Russia's main sources of economic wealth and trade potential
question
Time zone
answer
11
question
% urban/arable land/forested land
answer
73/8/45
question
Patrimonial state
answer
before 1917; ruled country and owned land
question
Who succeed Lenin as leader (1917-23) of USSR? Year collapse of USSR and establishment of Russian Federation of an independent state?
answer
Stalin (1929-1953), then Krushchev (1955-1964;de-stalinization), then Brezhnev (1964-1982; bureaucratic consolidation), then Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev (1985-1991;Perestroika),Yeltsin (1991-1999;market and democratic reforms), Putin (2000-2008; recentralization of state power), Dmitry Medvedev (2007-2008) 1991
question
year of civil war, war communism, and the New Economic Policy? year of collectivization and purges? year Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Union? year of financial crisis and devaluation of ruble?
answer
1918-1928 1929-1939 1941-1945 1998
question
Party system
answer
Multiparty system with a dominant party (United Russia)
question
The Tacit Social Contract
answer
Brezhnev: implied to limit interference life (house, job, education if support government: Soviet) if don't try to overthrow
question
Perestroika
answer
Gorbachev: restructuring of industry (like devolution)
question
Glasnost
answer
Gorbachev: openness; express your opinion (opposite of social contract)
question
Demokratizatsiia
answer
Gorbachev: heading toward democracy for open election
question
New Thinking
answer
Gorbachev: globalization
question
The Commonwealth of Independent States
answer
1991-1993, established by Yeltsin, Soviet Republics
question
The United Russian Federation
answer
by Putin, largest party in Russia, 238/450 seats in Duma
question
Yeltsin
answer
1991; president of Russian Republics; leads to new constitution in 1993; 1998 Financial Crisis led to resignation and replaced by Putin
question
Response to 9-11
answer
Putin expressed solidarity, but didn't support American incursion into Iraq, Russia invaded Chechnya in response of terrorism attacks, Orange Revolution (2004; protest against an election where Russian press advocated a pro-western orientation)
question
The Moscow Hostage Crisis
answer
Hostages held in Moscow Theater (2004)
question
Beslan
answer
children held hostage in 2004, 300 died
question
Lower House called
answer
Duma (450 members); make most decisions
question
Democratic Centralism
answer
is like collective responsibility; leaders were elected from below, but strict discipline was required in implementing party policy once a decision was made
question
Checka
answer
security of regime was strengthened
question
War Communism
answer
took control of ALL industries to win the war
question
What revolution removed Czar Nicholas (1st Revolution of 1917)?
answer
March/Spring/White Revolution during WWI by Karensky and Provisional Intelligensia and threw out tsar Nicholas II
question
Revolution of 1917 called
answer
Bolshevik/Communist/October; a) Brest-Litovsk Treaty (1918) ceded chunks of territory to Germany, expropriation of foreign holdings
question
November Revolution
answer
Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) ovethrew the gov. (Marxists who believed the rev reflected political interests of proletariat "land, peace, and bread"
question
Communism
answer
economic: distribution of resource, party will lead people
question
Why did Germany help Lenin back into Russia?
answer
So he could get Russia out of war
question
Vanguardism
answer
organized by Bolsheviks;party know interest of people better than people themselves; unique because of vast geographic expanse of country; party will lead (by proletariat)
question
Part of destalinization
answer
introduced by Krushchev, rejected terror, revive communist party as vital political institution, allowed sporadic liberalization.
question
What provoked Stalin to join Allied power?
answer
Hitler invaded Russia (broke Nazi-Soviet pact)
question
Is Tacit Social Contract most liberal of all recent government policies?
answer
No because it's not about rights unlike glasnost/perestroika
question
Only western warm water port in Russia
answer
Kaliningrad
question
Russian's Federal System is composed of ___ sub-national government, ___ republics, and __ cities of Federal States: __________ and __________
answer
83; 21; 2; Moscow and Saint Petersburg
question
When did Soviet Union dissolve?
answer
1991
question
Russia went from _________ to __________
answer
isolationism by Stalin to globalization by Gorbachev
question
Who wanted to de-stalinize Stalin's rule?
answer
Khrushchev
question
What percent of people in Russia were arrested during Stalin?
answer
5% (5million)
question
3 types of government
answer
Russian Empire (Czar), USSR (communism), Russian Federation
question
Who was faulted for democratic backsliding?
answer
Putin
question
Yeltsin's shock therapy
answer
1992, radical, rapid reform, market reform
question
Yeltsin's Four Pillars of Reform
answer
1. opening economy to foreign influence 2. privatization of state enterprises 3. encouragement of small businesses 4. ending price controls
question
Joint-stock companies
answer
Workers/owners own company up to 51% at low price
question
Privatization voucher
answer
10,000 rubles to buy in to their factories ($10)
question
Insider privatization/drawbacks
answer
privatize to small group of people, managers unwilling to increase efficiency by firing excess labor
question
Phase two impediments
answer
2nd stage of privatization-firms sell remaining shares for cash/investment guarantees
question
Loans-for-shares
answer
1996 secure position of Russian's wealthy and powerful business elite (controversial), slow. Large industries lent money by commercial banks to government.
question
Mafia
answer
government turned to Mafia and private contractors to provide basic services.
question
Oligarchs
answer
17 people;wealthy individuals who benefitted from privatization and are a political influence; took over loans-for-shares (buy 49% up)
question
Pyramid debt
answer
borrow at higher rate to pay at slower pace led to financial crisis in August 1998
question
Recovery factors
answer
1. devalued ruble led to sharp reduction in imports of Western commodities, making Russian producers competitive 2. Rise in international oil and gas prices making Russian economic success heavily dependent on its natural resources
question
Putin's reforms
answer
new government initiatives, battled oligarchs, and foreign debt loan declined
question
Gusinsky's NTV
answer
nearly sole TV critic of Kremlin's military action against secessionist Republic of Chechnya
question
Khodorkovsky
answer
chief executive and major shareholder of giant Russian oil company, Yukos; 2003 arrested for fraud and tax invasion, 2005: sentenced to 9 years in prison.
question
Collectivization Campaign
answer
during Stalin Revolution (1929-1953) prevent a capitalist class from forming in the countryside,led to widespread famine and the death of millions, Enemies sent to Gulags (forced labor camps),5% of civilians are arrested
question
Gosplan
answer
during Stalin; state planning committee that set production targets for every enterprise in the country
question
Russia and WWII
answer
Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Russia joins Allied forces, Casualties: 27 million total (19 million civilians), Germans, Crimean Tarts, and peoples of the northern Caucasus regions were targeted as enemies during the war effort
question
Russia after WWII
answer
The Soviet Union tried to isolates its satellites in Eastern Europe form the West and to tighten their economic and political integration with the USSR using the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Treaty Organization;Allied powers allowed Soviet Union to absorb new territories;Many countries adopted features of Soviet communisms and became part of the USSR
question
Attempts at De-Stalinization
answer
Khrushchev (1953-1964) rejected terror as an instrument of political control and revived the Communist Party; KGB (Secret Police) was subordinated to party authority, and party meetings were resumed on a regular basis
question
Brezhnev era
answer
tightened controls again in the cultural sphere against individuals who expressed dissenting views (dissident movement), described as bureaucratic and conservation During the Brezhnev era, a tacit social contract with the population governed state society relations. In exchange for political compliance, the population enjoyed job security, a lax work environment, low prices for basic goods, housing, transport, free social services, and minimal interference
question
Decrease communist monopoly of power
answer
Citizens began to pursue their interests and beliefs through newly created organizations such as environmental group's charitable groups, political clubs act
question
Separatism mania
answer
three Baltic republics (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) and other union republics demanded national autonomy or secession
question
Gorbachev's economic policies
answer
failed; half measures produced isolation and "war of laws" where regional officials openly defied central directives
question
Gorbachev August 1991
answer
coup d'état temporarily removed Gorbachev from the Soviet leadership post and held captive at dacha (summer home)
question
Yeltsin's market reform
answer
Shock therapy: open up the market but there is no taxation system o companies make money but countries do not get any benefits; Black market: unofficial economy (bloody showdown in 1993); New constitution had powerful president and a relatively weak parliament
question
Under Soviet command economy
answer
land factories and all other assets belonged to the states;Productivity and efficiency were low because innovation was not rewarded;Prices controlled by state led to unmotivated companies and surplus of some products and not enough of others;Firms and individuals not allowed to develop direct links to foreign partners;Development of Siberia;Environmental quality deteriorated under Soviet rule because ecological goal were subordinate to production quotas (Inadequate technological safeguards and insufficient regulatory structure led to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl Ukraine in 1986;Showed that glasnost didn't work, government buried Chernobyl)
question
Fall of Soviet System
answer
Late 1991, Gorbachev is president but gets taken out (Transitional guy),Reduced state's role in economic development,Opened Economy to foreign influence,Started process of market reform,Decline in economic performance,Struggle to regulate new market forces and manage impacts of global economic forces. Got no foreign aid (didn't want Russia to survive)
question
Putin leadership
answer
New ministry for economic development and trade in 2001/2002 (FIRST thing he did);Simplification of the tax system (13% flat income tax and other adjustments);Amendments to corporate governance law to protect shareholders' rights;legislation to control money laundering;provision for the sale of land to both domestic and foreign buyers;new labor code that tightened trade union conditions;new system governing distribution of authority and tax revenues;new customs code;pension reform;amendment to the bankruptcy law;initiative to reduce subsidization of housing and communal services
question
Massive street demonstration in 2005
answer
involved changes to social welfare policy known as the "monetization of social benefits" with reforms including reduction of certain services such as public transport and medicine free of charge(public services no longer free, disadvantaged groups given money less than that required to pay for these services;resulted in modest increase in pensions and restore subsidized public transportation)
question
Administrative Structure
answer
Federal system, originally with 89 subnational governments
question
Executive
answer
Dual executive (president and prime minister) Direct election of presidential prime minister appointed by the president with the approval of the lower house of the parliament (State Duma).
question
Legislative
answer
Bicameral. Called the Federal Assembly. Upper house (federation Council) appointed by heads of regional executive and representative organs. Lower house (State Duma) is chosen by direct election, since 2007 by a proportional representation system for all 450 deputies. Powers include proposal and approval of legislation, approval of presidential appointees
question
Judiciary
answer
Independent constitutional court with 19 justices, nominated by the president and approved by the Federation Council, holding 12 year terms with possible renewal
question
Nomenklatura system
answer
a system of personnel selection under which the communist party maintained control over the appointment of important officials in all spheres of social, economic, and political life; allowed the CPSU to fill key posts with politically reliable individuals
question
Path dependence
answer
the manner in which past experiences shapes the choices and options available for change
question
President
answer
oversees foreign policy, relations with the regions, and organs of state security,elected directly but the population every four years, with the limit of two consecutive terms,presidential term to 6 years was under consideration in 2008, cannot violate the constitution or specific legislation passed by the bicameral legislature (Federal Assembly), but policy making by decree can allow the president to ignore an uncooperative or divided parliament
question
Prime Minister
answer
Appointed by the president and approved by the lower house of parliament (State Duma) is the head of government,focuses on economy and related issues,Yeltsin had 6 prime ministers that held office,Putin had 3 prime ministers and 1 acting prime mister,First on from 2000-2004, Mikhail Kasyanov became an outspoken opposition figure,Putin himself became prime minister in 2008 named by Medvedev,can be removed by the Duma through two repeat votes of no confidence passed within a 3 month period,Prime minister has never been a member of the dominant party in the duma thus the principles of party accountability that apply in most western systems are not operative in Russia
question
Putin's new organ
answer
Presidium of the Russian cabinet, meets weekly and acts as a kind of executive committee of the larger cabinet
question
Putin's cabinet shuffle
answer
shifted some of his former presidential aides to his new post
question
Security Council formed in 1992
answer
advises the president in areas related to foreign policy and security; includes heads of appropriate government bodies (power ministries such as Defense and Federal Security service, the prime minister, and the heads of 7 newly created federal districts
question
State council
answer
Reformed in 2000 as part of Putin's attempt to redefine the role of regional leaders in federal decision making,Includes all regional heads, has a consultative role, but does not give regional executives any real power,Smaller presidium, made up of seven of the regional heads selected by the president meets monthly 2004 administrative reform: ministries are concerned with policy functions or political aspects, services and agencies generally undertake monitoring functions or implementation, considered unsuccessful in improving bureaucratic efficiency
question
Ministers
answer
do not require parliamentary approval, appointed by the president with recommendations from the prime minister,in the 2008 cabinet shuffle, Putin designated two first deputy prime ministers and 5 deputy prime ministers with 18 ministries and more than 50 other organs, generally career bureaucrats who have risen through an appropriate government agency
question
Siloviki
answer
Russian politicians and government officials drawn form security and intelligence agencies, special forces, or military who were recruited to important political posts under Putin
question
Constitutional Court
answer
formed in 1991, not functional until 1995
question
1995 system of commercial courts
answer
formed to hear cases dealing with issues related to privatization, taxes, and other commercial activities
question
Subnational government
answer
Issue of whether all regions should have equal status 1991-1993: 89 units(reduced to 83 in 2008), 21 republics,49 oblasts,6 krais,10 autonomous okrugs,1 autonomous oblast, and St Petersburg and Moscow have federal status
question
Asymmetrical Federalism
answer
system of governance in which political authority is shared between a central government and regional or state governments, but where some subnational units in the federal system have greater or lesser power than others
question
Vertical Power
answer
involves an integrated structure of executive power from the top (presidential) level down through the local level
question
"soft" power mechanism
answer
Strengthening of Clientelistic relations between central authorities and the governors and presidents of republics
question
Bill to become law
answer
Must be approved by both houses of the parliament in three readings and signed by the president,if president vetoes the bill, it must be passed again in the same wording by 2/3 majority of both houses of parliament in order to override the veto
question
Civil Society
answer
under Gorbachev; autonomous sphere of social life that could act on the state without being dependent on it
question
Legislature
answer
upper house (the Federation Council) represents Russia's constituent federal units; lower house (the Duma) has 450 members and is currently chosen through a proportional representation electoral system
question
Duma
answer
Factions unite deputies from the same or allied parties;Council of 11 members and 33 committees;elects its own speaker (since 2003 this has been Boris Gryzlov, head of the United Russia Party);before that the speaker of the Duma came from the Communist Party;compared to communist period, deputies reflect less demographics
question
Federation Council
answer
Two members from each of Russia's federal regions and republics;appointment of one representative by the regional executive and one by the regional legislature;deputies to both duma and federation council are granted immunity from criminal prosecution
question
Law for political parties
answer
Parties must have at least 50,000 members;branches of at least 500 members in at least half of the regions of Russia
question
Centrist "parties of power"
answer
United Russia (70% of Duma seats in 2007), a Just Russia, Fatherland, All-Russia (Merged in United Russia in 2001), our Home is Russia
question
The left
answer
Communist Party of the Russian Federation (12.7% of seats in 2007)
question
Nationalist/patriotic forces
answer
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Radina (Motherland Bloc)
question
Liberal/reform forces
answer
Union of Rightist Forces, Yabloko
question
Parties' support for market transition
answer
left argued for stronger state role in providing social protection, liberal/reform parties advocated more rapid market reform including privatization, free prices, and limited government spending, dominant United Russia decides on middle ground, supports market reform but less radically
question
Parties' Nation identity
answer
Liberal/reform parties advocate integration of Russia in the global market and adoption of western economic and political principles, Nationalist parties emphasize defense of Russian interests over westernization, United Russia once again middle ground, identifies Europe as primary identity point for Russia but also pursuing own unique path
question
Centrist United Russia
answer
Political dominance since 2003, rapid success due to association with Putin and persuasive incentives for regional elites to come on board, unique Russian approach (separate from West), appeals to values of order and law, commitment to moderate reform, "party of power": focused on winning prominent and powerful PEOPLE who will use their influence to further party position
question
A Just Russin
answer
formed in 2006; Amalgam of Rodina, Party of Life, and the Party of Pensioners, founded by Putin loyalist, Sergey Mironov (chair of Federation Council), support for socialist principles (left of United Russia)
question
The Russian Left
answer
Communist Party of the Russian Federation; Consistently represented in the Duma since 1993, successor of the old CPSU, only remaining opposition force in the Duma, headed by Gennade Syuganov, goals of democracy, justice, equality, patriotism, and internationalism, a combination of civic rights and duties, and socialist renewal, support especially from older Russians, economically disadvantaged, and rural residents, no longer regarded as vanguard organization for working class, inability to adapt to attract new adherents, younger generations, and lacks charismatic leader
question
Nationalist Patriotic Party
answer
Liberal Democratic Party; Headed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, populism based in Zhirinovsky's person charismatic appeal, anti-western, support of an expanded state to include Ukraine, Belarus etc., concern with breakdown of law and order, support of war in Chechnya, support from working class men and military personnel
question
Liberal/Reform Parties
answer
Union of Rightist Forces and Yabloko; Less than 2% of the vote in 2007 Duma elections, leaders are outspoken critics of current government: view as a slide to authoritarianism
question
Proportional representation
answer
seats are allocated to parties in proportion to the votes that each party receives
question
Duma Electoral System
answer
winner take all districts
question
After fall of USSR
answer
began to embrace political and economic values from the West, mass media, education, and other social institutions began to have a wider range of views and opinion, electronic media stayed the same because they are particularly susceptible to political pressure, financial interests and mafia attacks on investigative journalists, distinction between ethnic identity and civic identity, gender relations reflect traditional family values, Social Class Identity
question
Attempts to channel public activism through official forums
answer
Government Organized Civic Forum: all Russian congress of NGO activists held in 2001 in Moscow, Public Chamber (2005): initiative based on voluntary participation by presidential appointees and representatives recommended by societal organizations (March of Dissents 2006, Movement Against Illegal Immigration)
