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Russian Politics and Society, Fourth Edition

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Russian Politics and Society Having been fully revised and updated to reflect the considerable changes in Russia over the last decade, the fourth edition of this classic text builds on the strengths of the previous editions to provide a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis on Russian politics and society. In this edition, Richard Sakwa seeks to evaluate the evidence in a balanced and informed way, denying simplistic assumptions about the inevitable failure of the democratic exper- iment in Russia while avoiding facile generalisations on the inevitable triumph of global integration and democratisation. New to this edition: • Extended coverage of electoral laws, party development and regional politics • New chapter on the ‘phoney democracy’ period, 1991–3 • Historical evaluation of Yeltsin’s leadership • Full coverage of Putin’s presidency • Discussion of the development of civil society and the problems of democratic consolidation • Latest developments in the Chechnya conflict • More on foreign policy issues such as Russia’s relationship with NATO and the EU after enlargement, Russia’s relations with other post-Soviet states and the problem of competing ‘near abroads’ for Russia and the West • The re-introduction of the Russian constitution as an appendix • An updated select bibliography • More focus on the challenges facing Russia in the twenty-first century Written in an accessible and lively style, this book is packed with detailed information on the central debates and issues in Russia’s difficult transformation. This makes it the best available textbook on the subject and essential reading for all those concerned with the fate of Russia, and with the future of international society. Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent. Russian Politics and Society Fourth edition Richard Sakwa Firstpublished1993 Secondedition,1996 Thirdedition,2002 Fourthedition,2008 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada byRoutledge 270MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” ©1993,1996,2002,2008RichardSakwa Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprinted orreproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic, mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented, includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformation storageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting fromthepublishers. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Sakwa,Richard. Russianpoliticsandsociety/RichardSakwa.–4thed. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. 1.Russia(Federation)–Politicsandgovernment–1991–2.Post-communism– Russia(Federation).3.FormerSovietrepublics–Politicsandgovernment. 4.Post-communism–FormerSovietrepublics.I.Title. JN6695.S282008 320.947–dc222007032799 ISBN 0-203-93125-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10:0-415-41527-6(hbk) ISBN10:0-415-41528-4(pbk) ISBN10:0-203-93125-4(ebk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-41527-9 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-41528-6 (pbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-203-93125-7 (ebk) Contents List of figures ix List of tables x Preface to the fourth edition xiii Acknowledgements xv Note on style, spelling and transliteration xvi Glossary of acronyms, acrostics and terms xvii PART I The fall of communism and the rebirth of Russia 1 1 Soviet communism and its dissolution 3 The Soviet system 4 Perestroika 9 The emergence of Russia 15 Popular insurgency and regime decay 19 2 The disintegration of the USSR 25 The August coup 25 The disintegration of the USSR 28 Problems of state-building 35 3 Phoney democracy, 1991–3 40 Phoney democracy: the road to October 1993 40 Genesis of a tragedy 47 The troubled path to the constitution 53 PART II Political institutions and processes 61 4 Constitutionalism and the law 63 vi Contents The 1993 constitution 63 The Constitutional Court 70 The legal system and its reform 72 Law and constitutionalism 79 5 Crime, corruption and security 83 Crime and the mafia 83 Corruption, meta-corruption and anti-corruption 86 The security apparatus and politics 96 Human and civil rights 102 6 The executive 105 The presidency 105 The government 113 Prime ministers and their policies 116 Public administration: from nomenklatura to civil service 125 7 Party development 128 Stages of party development 128 Normative framework of party development 141 The party system today 144 Problems of social representation 149 8 Electoral politics 160 Founding elections and electoral management 160 The electoral system and its reform 162 The experience of elections 169 Direct democracy: referendums 183 Electoral engagement 185 9 The legislature 188 Elections to the State Duma 188 Organisation 192 Role 194 The Federation Council (FC) 197 PART III Nationalism, federalism and regionalism 205 10 National identity and state-building 207 From empire to state 207 Russian nationalism and national identity 213 State-building: borders and citizenship 226 Contents vii 11 Federalism and the new state 236 Ethno-federalism and its legacy 236 Russian federalism 245 12 Segmented regionalism and the new federalism 255 Segmented regionalism 255 Putin’s ‘new federalism’ 266 Segmented regionalism and asymmetrical federalism 281 PART IV Economy and society 285 13 Russian capitalism 287 The road to the market 287 The Russian economy today 299 Evaluation of market reform 310 14 Society and social movements 314 Social structure and dynamics 314 Welfare and incomes 325 Social movements 330 Para-constitutionalism and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) 341 15 Cultural transformation 345 The media 345 Culture and the intelligentsia 349 Religion and the state 352 Political culture and public opinion 354 The reshaping of values 359 PART V Foreign, security and neighbourhood policy 363 16 Foreign policy 365 The evolution of foreign policy 365 The structure of policy-making 372 The debate over foreign policy 376 Russia and the world 382 17 Defence and security policy 392 The end of the Soviet armed forces 392 viii Contents The great retreat 397 Military and security doctrines 399 Nuclear politics and non-proliferation 402 Military reform 405 Civil–military relations 408 New security paradigms 412 18 Commonwealth, community and fragmentation 420 The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 420 Regional organisations 434 PART VI Dilemmas of democratisation 441 19 Problems of transition 443 The challenge of history 443 Transitional justice 448 Models of transition 451 20 Democracy in Russia 463 Problems of democracy 463 Regime politics 466 Leadership and regime change 470 A struggling democracy? 473 Appendix: the Russian constitution 478 Notes 514 Select bibliography 567 Index 572 Figures 1.1 The USSR in 1991 7 2.1 The Russian Federation 37 11.1 Russia and its republics 239 11.2 The regions and republics of European Russia 251 12.1 Siberia and the Russian Far East 262 12.2 The seven federal districts 268 12.3 North Caucasus 276 17.1 Central and Eastern Europe 394 18.1 Member states of the CIS 422 18.2 Central Asia 424 18.3 South Caucasus 425 18.4 Ukraine 426 Tables 1.1 Election to the USSR Congress of People’s Deputies, 26 March 1989 12 1.2 Referendum on ‘renewed union’ and a presidency in Russia, 17 March 1991 22 1.3 First Russian presidential election, 12 June 1991 23 2.1 Population of the USSR, 1989 38 3.1 Referendum, 25 April 1993 51 4.1 Referendum on the constitution, 12 December 1993 64 6.1 Russia’s prime ministers 117 7.1 Vote distribution between major parties (PR vote) 133 7.2 Secular trends in party list voting 139 8.1 The ‘against all’ vote, 1991–2004 168 8.2 State Duma election, 12 December 1993 170 8.3 State Duma election, 17 December 1995 173 8.4 Presidential election, June–July 1996 175 8.5 State Duma election, 19 December 1999 178 8.6 Presidential election, 26 March 2000 179 8.7 State Duma election, 7 December 2003 181 8.8 Presidential election, 14 March 2004 182 8.9 Electoral turnout 186 8.10 Political preferences in federal elections, 1991–2004 186 9.1 Membership of the State Duma 189 9.2 Gender balance in the State Duma 190 10.1 National composition of Russian Federation, 1989 and 2002 217 10.2 The republics of Russia 227 10.3 Nationalities in the republics, 1989 229 10.4 Ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in Soviet Republics outside Russia, 1989 230 11.1 Autonomous oblasts and okrugs 241 13.1 Russian economic performance since 1990 299 14.1 Resident population of USSR and Russia (urban/rural) 315 14.2 Births, deaths and natural movement of Russian population 316 14.3 Life expectancy at birth 317 14.4 Employment structure in 1989 319 14.5 Economically active population, unemployment and employment type 320 Tables xi 14.6 Refugees and forced resettlers 323 14.7 International migration 324 18.1 Territory and population of former Soviet republics, 1 January 1990 428 18.2 The CIS in 2007 430 20.1 Five arenas of consolidated democracy 465 20.2 Schematic overview of regime politics 467 Preface to the fourth edition Nearly two decades have passed since the fall of the Soviet communist system in 1991. Russia remains balanced between consolidating the democratic aspirations that accompanied the fall of the old regime and reproducing in new forms the authoritarianism that was overthrown at that time. There are undoubtedly major achievements
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