This Week’S Reading Focused On The Changes That Took Place

Democracy was already viewed poorly in Russia, whose only other experience plunged them deeper into the depths of World War 1. This is significant because a majority of the Russian people felt during that time that their voices were not heard. Therefore, it should be noted then, that when Yeltsin took power, Russian’s had not seen true representative democracy. When, Yeltsin took power after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russians were wary. This illegitimate view towards democracy was one of the reasons the resource curse had such a profound effect. The other that the economy was weak and the government was unstable. This in part was attributed to the loss of over 15 states when the Soviet Union fell, and the trade and overall economic problems that the new Yeltsin government assumed when this occurred. Even if Putin had been in power during this time, he would have faced similar problems, the regime was not to blame. When the Soviet Union fell, it was during a time where oil prices where falling, in fact, they would continue to fall until around 1996. The falling oil prices dramatically hurt the Yeltsin administration. When Putin took over, world prices has begun to rise, further Putin privatized part of the oil industry, which allowed new technologies to form, thus causing a booming oil economy in

19). That begin said, Russian politics have always governed around protecting themselves from threats inside and outside their boundaries both economical and militarily. In addition, Lynch elaborates that the capability of a state is so important in developing; in order to form a democracy since having been a built on post communist and Imperial auspices (Lynch, p. 5). In other words, a democracy does not merely come out of nowhere in a civil society, unless there is a capable national service where a political authority may draft, pass and enforce legislation. Furthermore, it is the neopatrimonial model that best describes the functioning of the Russian state that took hold in post communist Russia ruled by Yeltsin and Putin (Lynch, pp. 128-30). To clarify, it was significant that Russia established itself in a liberal economy, which was mostly supported by Western states, however the emergence and eventual consolidation under Putin established a neopatrmonial Political system.

The Russian government is creating a notable history of political and economic system changes, as well as leaders. Although the age of the Russian Empire was the beginning of the established long-lasting power, it had some fundamental faults in terms of wealth and equality of its citizens. Tsars and tsarinas had too much power to provide the necessary equilibrium of social growth and development. This problem was developed and used to convert the country into the era of socialism, which later became the communist era. Despite strong hopes of positive changes after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the current, “semi-presidential” Russian federation hasn’t gone too far from its wealth-egoist past. However, it raises the question: what

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.

Masha Gessen, Russian-American Journalist and Critically acclaimed author, visited Hofstra University’s campus with a knowledgeable access to Vladimir Putin; the “Inaccessible man”(Gessen). Gessen starts her 45-minute dialogue with a short narrative of her books, notably “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin” and “The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.” She continues by briefly describing what Putin has done in his short tenure in office. According to her, he has destroyed “years of progress”(Gessen).

With the arrival of the second half of the 20th century, came the death of Stalin and a new age for not only Russia but the entirety of the Eastern Block as well. Russia, as always, stood in the face of adversity and, instead of crumbling, began to develop and progress in leaps and bounds. In the span of a mere 50 or so years Russia went from one political, social, and economic standing, (Stalinism) to its exact obverse. Despite the obvious changes a switch like this requires there are still some fundamental and intrinsically Russian sentiments and characteristics that were maintained throughout the change.

2. Russia has a long history of invasions, uprisings, external influences, and revolutions which have caused its borders to expand and contract over time.1 Heroes of mythic proportion such as Alexander Nevsky earned their fame by defending the homeland in these times of strife. Nevsky, in particular, inspired in the Russian people a strong sense of Slavic nationalism that persists to this day.2 Throughout Russia’s many fluctuations, however, some factors never changed. For the vast majority of its existence, Russia has been viewed as a global power. It was not until the fall of the Soviet Union that Russia lost its global eminence. Another constant has been the need for access to warm-water ports on the Baltic and Black Seas. Russia has fought many campaigns to push its borders to these waters.1 These campaigns along with expansion eastward to the Pacific have left modern day Russia with an important legacy – access to

The influence of Joseph Stalin and the Communist Party left Russia’s economy in shambles; the majority of its citizens were impoverished and destitute. During this time, Vladimir Putin, who would eventually become Russia’s leader, was a young boy. Managing to claw his way into power, Putin displayed a plethora of ambition and thrived in politics. Today, he continues to be one of the most controversial figures in the world. Born to to a poor family in Leningrad, Vladimir Putin managed to ascend above his beginnings with perseverance and dedication, initially finding success in the KGB and eventually becoming one of the most influential and controversial Russian presidents in all of history.

Vladimir Putin is the current president of Russia who is either loved who hated across the globe. Not all agree with his political stances and foreign policy. Many of his decisions are constantly under the microscope of all other world leaders. Putin has now won three consecutive elections and has been in office since 2000. This paper will discuss Vladimir Putin's reign of power from 2000 to present day. From 2000-2004 Putin set out to reconstruction of the impoverished condition of

Putin displays an image of power that radiates to his people and either strikes fear or inspires hope for a better future for Russia. He began his political march towards the presidency as a KGB operative in Germany in the last few years the USSR remained to stand. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin moved back to St. Petersburg and took a job in the mayor's office as an advisor on international affairs. That was when he began his slow crawl to power eventually earning the position of Prime Minister under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin. At the end of Yeltsin's weak and controversial presidency, the Russian people were eager to find a president who was strong and capable of leading Russia to its rightful glory. Putin offered this in the form of a former KGB operative who will ride a bear shirtless and who will meet opposition with no fear. However, keep in mind that not all of Russia supports Putin. Upon Putin's third reelection into presidency, a somewhat violent protest broke out in which 250 people were arrested. Miriam Elder of The Guardian recalls that the protest "began peacefully as more than 20,000 Russians took to the streets" who were also chanting things like "Putin is a thief" (Elder 5). They were later met at Blotnaya square by a heavily reinforced riot police and the riot was eventually de-escalated and protestors eventually

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.

In recent times, no one can take total power by force alone; you must offer something favorable to the people in order to obtain support. Unfortunately, there are some countries that follow a dictatorship system, which is a form of government that includes social and political power to ensure that the individual’s capability remains strong. Vladimir Putin is a contemporary dictator of Russia. His rebelliousness as a child has led him to his leadership. His cold-heartedness to his rivals and invasion towards countries has led to an opposition towards him. Vladimir Putin’s experience as a street thug led him to his leadership, which easily rose him to power: Not only has he committed crimes against humanity, but he has made groups of people and countries oppose him.

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.

As my childhood went on, I continued my interest in their former lives by reading all that I could about WWI, WWII, the Cold War, and the breakup of the Soviet Union up until the present era. What I have noticed is that ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1991, a symbol of the end of Soviet rule, Russia has become a former shell of itself. It was not until the election of current Russian President Vladimir Putin that I began to notice that the country was trying to bring itself back to the powerful nation it once was in the Cold War. Media suppression, assassinations, proxy

In recent years, Russia is involved in transformation of its economic and political policies As a result of these positive policies Russia has once again on the way to emerge as rising power in international politics. Following is a list of different potential challenges in the path of Russia to become a super power again.