The Russian Government Undermines Civil Rights

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

Oppression against the LGBT, or Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender, community has been going on in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Recently, Russian authorities have been cracking down on gay rights. Russian president Vladimir Putin has created new laws that do not ban homosexuality, but place restrictions on what can be said to children about homosexuality. The LGBT community can’t be proud of who they are in Russia. They can’t openly come out comfortably without feeling as if it’s wrong. LGBT rights are very important and are something that shouldn’t be discriminated against because they’re no different than anyone else. They shouldn’t be abused just because they like someone of the same gender. The LGBT community is full of the nicest and

In Marc Bennetts’ article, “Russia’s anti-gay law is wrong – but so is some of the criticism from the west”, he explains what exactly the law is about in laymen terms. Though the law is ‘vaguely’ word as Bennetts puts it, the law basically outlaws propaganda of homosexuality to minors. Bennetts is stating how the western world, the United States mostly, has played into Vladimir Putin’s hands by its criticism of the law.

Similarly, the United States LGBTQ+ community suffers from similar assault cases and psychological damage. Violence towards the LGBTQ+ community in America is not as publicly seen or heard of as in Russia, but it is still there. Russia and the U.S have similar, yet different forms of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ persons. In the United States, sexual assault and gun violence are often what you hear in regards to hate crimes; that is if it is large enough to make the news at all. Unlike in Russia, the police must investigate the crime, since it is an act of discrimination. The difference in the United States and Russia in the regard is that by law (depending on the state) the United States must stop discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.

In order to improve and conduct a nation, new reforms and new implementation are essential to be addressed. Valdimir Putin, the current president of Russia, has diligently delegated and decided upon many proposals, and therefore assured the safety of his people. Putin has considerably secured Russia’s stability by founding a family holiday, influencing a decrease in poverty, and deciding upon opposing NATO.

Could you ever imagine living in a country where as a citizen you have no power in the government or a say in your own business? This is how the citizens lived for many years under the rule of many different leaders. The Soviet Union is a prime example of a society where your rights are taken away. The creation of the Soviet Union, also known as The Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, began shortly after the overthrow the Russian tsar in 1917. Soon after its creation, problems arose within the new form of government affecting the lives of two hundred and ninety three million civilians. Decades after the revolution, Mikhail Gorbachev came into power proposing new laws in order to lead the Soviet Union out of economic catastrophe. These changes

In the eyes of an overwhelming majority of mankind, freedom is an irrefutable right. An unmeasurable amount of people has chosen to potentially sacrifice their lives if only for the off-chance of being freed. At the dawn of the 20th century, Russia had finally slipped through the shackles put forth by the czarist autocracy. The feeling of liberation brought a spark in what appeared to be a labyrinthine tunnel invariably plagued with darkness. However, this spark was unable to be kindled into a fire as Vladimir Lenin of the Bolshevik Party quickly extinguished what could have been a democracy.

The article I chose to reflect on is “Why Russia Matters” by James F. Collins and Matthew Rojansky. In this article the author highlights the ten most important roles Russia plays in the world today. The only thing that I can honestly say I already knew about Russia prior to reading this article was that it’s big. Russia being so big has a lot to do with its importance to the rest of the world. For example, Russia has a lot of land and water making it home to many natural resources, so preserving it is very important. Along with lots of land and water, Russia is the second largest producer of oil. Being such a big producer of oil gives Russia power to control the prices around the world. Russia has the 12th largest economy in the nation and

The Russian Revolution was caused by their oppressive government. As shown by “...the czardom increasingly became an autocratic bureaucracy that imposed its will on the people by force…”(Russian Revolution). This just repressed the people until they reached the snapping point. Pester I or Peter the great was the one who started the decline of the government in the autocratic bureaucracy it was before the revolution (Russian Revolution). Because of this and the Revolution the people fought back against Czar. This lead to czar having to give some ground and make new laws (Russian Revolution). He gave people the ability to govern themselves only later to take it back, but later he was forced into hiding.

Interestingly, this documentary is based on the lives of five individuals and their experiences with Russia’s transition that came from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moreover, four of the five people have known each other from childhood and lived in similar circumstances under the authoritarian rule. I will be focusing on how Olga, Andrei, Borya and Lyuba who are ordinary citizens have managed to live under an authoritarian rule. To begin with, USSR was the union of 15 socialist republic that included: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgiziya Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Russia,Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Without a doubt, USSR adopted a authoritarian regime in which it the socialist had the ultimate ownership in all areas of manufacture, distribution, and trade.

As I said earlier, I’m a citizen of two countries United States and Russia. When it comes to Russian government there is hardly anything like Constitution and democracy. The only power that is governing the government in money, literally who has enough money in his pocket can play as a politic. Although, this country seems to be free country or democratic country, it’s not really. As a citizen you don’t have a right to vote (even

In Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?, Karen Dawisha relates Russian President Vladmir Putin’s rise to power. She overarchingly claims that Putin is an authoritarian leader who has obstructed and even reverted Russia’s path of democratization, citing, amongst many factors that enabled his ascension, his “interlocking web of personal connections in which he was the linchpin” (100), money-laundering to tax havens and personal projects, and the complicity of the West. With copious research, journalistic interviews, legal documents, and even sporadic informational diagrams, it is evident why her book is so popular amongst scholars and history enthusiasts. Unfortunately however, in spite of the grand yet oftentimes substantiated claims she generates, a more subtle yet noteworthy assumption is made: that the state is a protector, as Olson proffered. She employs this theoretical underpinning from the beginning, though is not representative of Putin’s actual authoritarian regime.

The hegemony and the de facto leader, Putin himself, their roles and official titles: President, Prime Minister and Democracy are facades. Breaking traditions that don’t hold place within the structure of communism, a facet of Marxism. Ultimately, this has induced the institution to further the already dominant. Because of this, a residual effect has ensued and the dominant which had initially become less homophobic on the surface with old laws being scrapped, has actually regressed back to more antiquated views. At present, manipulating the already manipulated people of these preposterous and offensive views on homosexuality, Putin is not only creating an emergent society but simply furthering from what was already the dominant. Cultural Materialism as a lens to analysis said topic is interesting as it stems from the very founders of the social and governmental system that even still guides and effects Russia today. Being an aspect of each other, Marxism and Communism can’t exist without each other which creates intellectual isochronism as you’re not able to deviate much, as by virtue both theoretical perspectives and topic are at the core being driven by indistinguishable areas of social and political

Placing Vladimir Putin accurately on the political spectrum presents several challenges. First, Russia’s political system does not conform to western norms and therefore the standard definitions are not always appropriate. Putin, who spent a career in the KGB, is seen as highly secretive. He does not make frequent public speeches, and in general, Russian leaders do not typically feel the need to explain policy decisions or their rationale to the general populace. This makes it difficult to determine to what degree necessity and practicality motivates Putin’s decisions versus his own political philosophy. The lack of transparency in the Russian system further precludes detailed assessment or evaluation of leaders and their decisions such as would be demanded in western democracies. The Russian state owns 85% of the national media, rendering independent and unbiased scrutiny impossible. For all these reasons, Putin is enigmatic to most of the world outside his own country and therefore determining his personal political philosophy is not an easy task.

Vladimir Putin’s Global Orwellian Campaign to Undermine the West, a informative article explains how Putin’s campaign is similar to Big Brother in George Orwell’s book 1984. Much like the government system in 1984, Russia lies about many things to it’s citizens and surrounding countries. To help spread Russia’s lies they have many news channels such as Russia Today which you can also watch in America (RT America) that mainly focus on police brutality, protests, and poverty. Russia also has online websites one of which is called RT.com. RT.com was the first news channel to gain 1 billion views on YouTube. Another similarity between the article and 1984 is that there are people banding together to bring down the lies. StopFake is basically the