Russia, A Powerful And Diverse Culture

Russia, as a country, has had a long and proud history. However, for a small time starting in 1917, things started to take a turn for the worse. There was widespread famine, disease, and killing by the instituted government. There was also no Russia. Instead, there was the glorious United Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR. This new country did not come around peacefully, but instead under the 1917 Russian Revolution and the revolting communist Bolsheviks. The Russian people were not in a better condition after the Russian revolution due to Stalin’s leadership of his country; the reason being the GULAGs that Stalin was sending his people to, the communes that the peasants were sent to, and the disastrous effects of his five year plans.

The government of the modern day Russian Federation must be traced back to the early 20th century in order to understand its current posture. In 1917, tired of the sequestering limits of a Tsarist system, a small revolutionary group called the Bolshevik Party gained control of Russia . The Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin and inspired by Marxist ideology, attempted to establish a Constitute Assembly. However, a post- revolutionary environment and an unsupportive public forced Lenin to abolish rival political parties and establish a dictatorship to retain The Bolshevik Party’s power. In 1919, the

The Russian state has been characterized by its strong heritage of powerful, autocratic leadership. This domination by small ruling elite has been seen throughout Russia's history and has transferred into its economic history. Throughout the Russian czarist period, to the legacy of seventy years of communism; Russia has been a country marked by strong central state planning, a strict command economy and an overall weak market infrastructure (Goldman, 2003). Self-interest, manipulation and corruption have all been present in the Russian economy, and have greatly helped the few as opposed to the many. To this day, Russia still struggles with creating a competitive and fair market.

Russia began its reform with political liberalization, and many believe that Russia’s failure was partly due to focusing on political reform first and they should have begun with economic reforms which China had done. This lead to political turmoil so severe that in 1989-1993 workers were politically neutralized and unable to stop Yeltsin’s liberal market reforms. But, a small group of oligarchs helped to

The December of 1991 marked the end of the Soviet Union—and with it, an entire era. Like the February Revolution of 1917 that ended tsardom, the events leading up to August 1991 took place in rapid succession, with both spontaneity and, to some degree, retrospective inevitability. To understand the demise of Soviet Union is to understand the communist party-state system itself. Although the particular happenings of the Gorbachev years undoubtedly accelerated its ruin, there existed fundamental flaws within the Soviet system that would be had been proven ultimately fatal. The USSR became a past chapter of history because it was impossible to significantly reform the administrative

Throughout its long history, Russia has been trapped in a continuous cycle of authoritarian regimes; only interrupted briefly with periods of tumultuous democratic transitions that were plagued by poor bureaucracy and weak institutions. Therefore, time and time again, Russia has turned towards authoritarianism. In the late 1900’s to early 2000’s, Russia again saw the fall of democracy coincide with the rise of a competitive authoritarian regime. This rise of competitive authoritarianism in Russia in the late 1900’s to early 2000’s was largely the result of the resource curse which granted Putin’s Administration false economic performance legitimacy. This in turn reinvigorated past strongman ideals, while at the same time solidified negative

There were some major personality differences between Baldwin and Basinger. Alec is an extrovert, whereas Kim is an introvert. The Myers-Briggs personalities for Baldwin and Basinger show major differences as well. Kim Basinger is an INTP - logician and Baldwin is an ESTP - Entrepreneur. Both personality types have a tendency for insensitiveness and a lack of agreeableness, both of which can put strain on a relationship. Kim and Alec both come across as very neurotic and both of them have been reported to call the other narcissistic. (socion2.narod.ru, n.d.) (www.16personalities.com, 2011) Those who’ve worked with Baldwin have described him as acting childish, angry, unyielding, and unreasonable. Kim was known for having affairs and

The Soviet Union, which was once a world superpower in the 19th century saw itself in chaos going into the 20th century. These chaoses were marked by the new ideas brought in by the new leaders who had emerged eventually into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union was crumbling at this period both politically and socially, as well as the economy. There were underlying reasons for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eventually Eastern Europe. The economy is the most significant aspect of every government. The soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1. fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government

The intentions for the different social structures seemed to be benevolent, allowing all people to be equal, but once the institution had been established the malevolent truths of monotony became present. The Russian communism system, produced by Karl Marx’s “The Communist Manifesto,” depicts this scenario very clearly, from Russia’s recent history. The clumped masses of similar people, all providing similar products and services, were thought to allow the very upper two-hundredths percent of the population to go on with their lives as normally as possible, which in theory would allow the bottom ninety-nine percent of the population to enjoy the same luxuries as well. However, this reality, as seen from history, never occurred due to the simple fact that the Russian people had to obey to tyrannical laws that suppressed or razed any

Oligarchy as it is known in Aristotle’s politics; is a government run by a small group of people, ‘elites’. However, the oligarchy which this essay addresses is currently referred to in Russia as “a very wealthy and politically well-connected businessman...one who is the main owner of a conglomerate of enterprises and has close ties with the president” (Aslund and Dabrowski, 2007; 144). In the 1990s Russia’s economic reforms are said to have created the rise of a small group of oligarchs who gained an overwhelming amount of power and control. By 1997, this small group of previously unknown businessmen and bankers, often with gangster ties, had acquired control of many of the key parts of the Russian economy. Why did they emerge? It is argued by David Satter that three processes facilitated the emergence of the oligarchs. The first was hyperinflation and the social, economic and political consequences. The second was the process of privatisation, and finally the third was criminalisation (Satter, 2003). However, were these powerful oligarchs just a phase during the transition from Soviet to Post-Soviet Russia? Even with Putin’s efforts and declaration to distance the oligarchs from politics and power, and start a war against them exemplified by the Khodorkovsky affair, are oligarchs still significantly powerful in contemporary Russia? What is the role they play in Russia? It seems that the power of those original oligarchs of the 1990s has decreased or been concealed in

Russia is the largest country in the world with a population of 145.3 million people (Bradford, n.d). Its culture is one that has changed with time but has kept its traditions and values, the country is one of several others that has experienced both a communist and a capitalist society. Russian culture puts a lot of emphasis in family and friends (Bradford, n.d). During communist Russia friends and family had to help each other in order to survive the extreme poverty that they had to go through, during those times collectivism was developed and eventually passed to younger generations (Bradford, n.d). While is true that Russia today is very different from the days in which Communism was present people tend to follow the tradition of their parent and grandparents.

Although it may seem as if Russia’s decline happened overnight, a detailed timeline of Russia’s history would prove quite the opposite. Despite Russia’s long history with serfdom and poverty,

One country is comparable to the United States of America in terms of world power and prominence. Russia makes their name known beginning in World War 2 (WW2), later in the Korean War, Cold War, and today’s proxy war in the Syria. Russia’s culture, environment, politics, military, and economy do not just make Russia a regional powerhouse, but slowly becoming a region of influential power to surrounding countries with the end state of a global superpower. All the factors that make Russia the powerhouse that it is slowly becoming, highlights the impressive trend that supersedes the previous Soviet Union and past leaders.

Russia’s Return as a Superpower. There are concerns that Russia may once again “reassert itself militarily” (Wood 7). After the original fall of communism in 1991, Russia seemed to be on a path to democracy. Currently the notion of a democratic Russia seems to be fading as Russia “has been centralizing more and more power in the Kremlin” (Putin 2). Regional governors, who were once elected by the people, are now being appointed by Moscow.

Following the fall of communism, Russia has undergone a turbulent several decades. What was at one time an economic powerhouse stumbled and, at times, was on the verge of total collapse. For a multitude of reasons, the traditional democratic system seemed to be failing in Russia. Whether this is because of a lack of understanding of the democratic system by the Russian general populace or an unwillingness to adhere to this new type of government and economy is still hotly contested. Regardless, it cannot be disputed that the advent of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power transformed an “imperfect, unruly, and largely unconsolidated democracy” (Stoner-Weiss 316) back into a nation that possessed a larger portion of the power the Soviet Union once held. Thus it can be deduced that Putin’s “strongman” position as both Prime Minister and President of Russia is the primary reason that Russia’s semi-presidential system failed whereas France’s has succeeded.