Comparative Politics Chapter 4: Russia
Section 1: The Making of the Modern Russian State (pgs. 150-162) 1. Examine Table 4.1 and answer the following questions: a. Is Russia a federal or unitary system? What does this mean?
b. What type of executive does Russia have? How does this work?
c. What is the name of the lower house of Russia legislature?
i. How are members elected to this chamber?
1. How is this different from the past?
ii. What are the powers of the legislature?
d. How is the Russian judiciary similar to the US judiciary?
e. What is the dominant political party in Russia?
Politics in Action 2. What did Vladimir Putin do just before the end of his final term as president of Russia in 2008?
a. Who became president after Putin? What job did Putin take?
b. Why did critics call these act “democratic backsliding” or “authoritarian”?
The Bolshevik Revolution and the Establishment of Soviet Power (1917-1929) 3. Who led the Bolshevik Revolution?
4. Explain why the author says the Bolshevik’s political party was based on a unique understanding of Marxism. (BE SURE TO INCLUDE DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM AND VANGUARD PARTY).
1 5. What country did the Bolsheviks form?
The Stalin Revolution (1929-1953) 6. Define collectivization:
a. Who advocated collectivization?
b. Describe the causes and effects of collectivization: Causes Effects
7. What was Gosplan? What did it do?
8. How did Stalin prevent political opposition to the Communist Party and control the Soviet population?
9. What effect did isolation have on the Soviet Union and its citizens?
10. What were the effects of World War II on the Soviet Union?
Attempts at De-Stalinization (1953-1985) 11. Describe Nikita Khrushchev (party leader 1955-1964) and his policy of de-Stalinization:
12. Who succeeded Khrushchev as party leader?
a. What problems did Soviet citizens face from the late 1970s onwards? Why was this?
Perestroika and Glasnost (1985-1991) 13. What were the goals of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reform program?
2 14. Describe each of the following reforms instituted by Gorbachev: a. Perestroika:
b. Glasnost:
c. Demokratizatsiia:
d. “New thinking”:
15. Explain the “fundamental changes” brought about by Gorbachev’s reforms:
Collapse of the USSR and Establishment of the Russian Federation (1991 to the present) 16. Who is Boris Yeltsin?
a. What role did he play in the attempted coup d’état of Gorbachev?
17. How did the Soviet Union collapse?
18. Who became president of the Russian Federation after Yeltsin?
After September 11, 2001 19. What helped the Russian economy to experience real economic growth in the decade following 1999?
20. Describe US-Russia relations after 9/11/01:
3 21. What is Chechnya? What do Chechens want? How have they tried to achieve this goal?
a. What have terrorist incidents allowed Putin to do?
22. Explain how Putin has radically recentralized political power over the last decade:
Theme and Implications—Historical Juncture and Political Themes 23. What has served as an important basis for Russia’s renewed international influence?
Implications for Comparative Politics 24. What four transition processes were initiated simultaneously in the early 1990s?
a. Why was this problematic? What has been the effect of these problems?
Section 2—Political Economy and Development (pgs. 163-174) 25. Why were productivity and efficiency low in the Soviet Union?
26. Why did environmental quality deteriorate under Soviet rule?
27. What “remarkable achievements” did the Soviet economic model register?
State and Economy in the Russian Federation 28. What was shock therapy?
29. What were the four main pillars of market reform through shock therapy?
a. What were the effects of these reforms?
4 30. Explain the process for privatizing state owned enterprises:
31. Describe the “loans-for-shares” program and its effects:
32. Was privatization successful in Russia? Why or why not?
33. What was the state of the Russian economy in the late 1990s?
34. Why has corruption increased in Russia?
35. Who are the oligarchs in Russia?
36. What happened to the Russian economy in 1998?
a. How has the Russian economy fared since 1998? Improved or worsened?
37. How did Putin treat the oligarchs?
a. Who is Mikhail Khodorkovsky?
i. What happened to him? Why did this happen?
Society and Economy 38. What is going on in the picture on page 170?
39. Describe the message of the political cartoon on page 171:
5 40. What is the “impending demographic crisis” in Russia (pgs. 171-172)? What are the causes of this crisis?
Russian Political Culture and Economic Change 41. Describe the aspects of Russian culture that have inhibited adaptation to a market economy:
Section 3—Governance and Policy-Making (pgs. 174-185) Organization of the State 42. What year was the Russian constitution ratified?
a. What branch of government has the most power in this constitution?
43. Describe the “hierarchical organization” of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU):
a. What was the Politburo? Why was it so important?
b. What was the nomenklatura system?
c. What role did the legislative branch play in the Soviet Union? What does this mean?
d. How has the past experience with the “hierarchical organization” of the CPSU influenced the current Russian government?
The Executive 44. Who is the head of state in Russia?
a. How is he chosen?
b. How long is his term?
45. Who is the head of government in Russia?
6 a. How is he chosen?
b. How can he be removed? How many times has this been done?
46. How is Russia’s executive different from the United States’ executive?
47. What is the power of decree?
a. What is this similar to in American government?
b. Why has Putin used the power of decree less than Yeltsin did?
48. Identify all of the powers of the Russian president:
49. What are clientelistic networks? What role do they play in the Russian bureaucracy?
50. What economic sectors are more likely to involve public or semipublic ownership?
a. What does public or semipublic ownership mean?
b. What is Gazprom?
Other State Institutions 51. How has the political power and prestige of the military changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union?
52. What are the various security organizations that exist in Russia alongside the military?
a. What are the siloviki? You can find the definition on page 474 in the glossary.
53. Who is Alexander Litvinenko? What happened to him? Why is this significant?
54. Why have many of Putin’s appointments been people with security backgrounds?
7 55. What power does the Russian Constitutional Court have, according to the 1993 constitution?
a. How is this similar to the US Supreme Court?
b. How do judges get on the Russian Constitutional Court?
i. How is this similar to the US process for appointment of Supreme Court justices?
c. What other courts exist in Russia?
56. How many “units” are there in the Russian Federation?
a. What have the republics been most assertive in?
b. Why has the Russian government opposed Chechen independence so fiercely?
c. What rights have been given to the republics?
i. How is the system of federalism in Russia similar to the system of federalism in the United States?
d. What is asymmetrical federalism?
57. What is the “power vertical”?
a. In December 2004, how did Putin and the Duma change the selection process for regional governors?
b. What effect has this had on federalism and democracy in Russia?
The Policy-Making Process
8 58. Describe how a bill becomes a law in Russia:
a. How is this similar to how a bill becomes a law in the US?
59. What is corporatism?
a. What is a problem with corporatism?
Section 4—Representation and Participation (pgs. 185-198) 60. Define civil society:
The Legislature 61. What is the name of the upper house of the Russian legislature?
a. What does it represent?
62. What is the name of the lower house of the Russian legislature?
a. How many members are there? How are they chosen?
i. How long are their terms?
b. What chamber of the US legislature is this similar to? How is it similar?
c. What political party dominates this chamber?
d. To what degree are women and workers represented in this chamber?
63. How are members of the Federation Council currently chosen?
a. How many members does each republic send to the Federation Council?
b. What power does the Federation Council have?
c. What chamber of the US legislature is this similar to? How is it similar?
64. How can members of the Federal Assembly override a presidential veto?
9 65. Why has the Duma cooperated more with the president since 2003?
Political Parties and the Party System 66. Why were there fewer political parties in Russia after July 2001?
67. What allowed United Russia to succeed so rapidly, beginning in 1999?
a. Why is United Russia considered a “cadre party”?
b. What do many observers feel A Just Russia was formed to do? Why?
68. What does CPRF stand for?
a. What has happened to this party’s power since 1993?
b. What demographics tend to support the CPRF?
69. Who heads the Liberal Democratic Party?
a. What does this party stand for? How can it be characterized?
70. What role do the Union of Rightist Forces (URF) and Yabloko play in Russia?
a. Who tends to support these parties?
Elections 71. Describe the electoral system for the Duma before 2007:
a. How did this change in 2007? Describe the current electoral process.
i. What effect is this likely to have on the number of political parties able to win elections?
10 72. What important “first step in consolidating democratic governance” has not been achieved in Russia?
Political Culture, Citizenship, and Identity 73. What attitudes toward government have persisted since the tsarist period?
74. What is the problem with the media in Russia?
a. Read the “Journalism and Politics” section on page 195. Who was Anna Politkovskaia? What happened to her?
i. Why is this significant?
Interests, Social Movements, and Protest 75. How and why are civil society organizations, such as interest groups and social organizations, limited in Russia?
Section 5—Russian Politics in Transition There are no questions from this section, but reading it will provide you with a deeper understanding of Russia today.
11 Possibly use this as separate handout and do in class: 1. Examine Figure 4.6 on page 182. How can you generalize the types of institutions that Russians trust? Distrust?
12 13 14