notes for 2/18 wayyyy late

a. Yeltsin names Putting acting PM, elected preseident in 2000, gets 58% of vote
i. Russian government under Putin brought back censorship of free press that Yeltsin let go
1. Also tried to bring internet under control
ii. Tried to bring Oligarchs under control
1. Drove out two of the most outspoken Oligarchs
a. Boris Berezovsky- really pushed on Yeltsin, had hand in forming Putin’s Unity party, upset Putin
b. Gusinsky- just left coiuntry at risk of getting thrown in prison
2. Let Oligarchs keep the business without hassle provided they stay out of politics
3. Big time oil exec at Yukos (young, rich), Khodorkovsky breaks Putin’s rule and funds an oppoition political party, Yabloko
a. Pro reform party
b. Putin had him arrested and thrown n jail, then charged for fraud and income tax evasion
i. Sentenced to 8 years in prison (September 2005)
ii. Company broken up and sold to friends of Putin’s
iii. Parole denied recently
iii. Duma pssed law allowing private sale of farmland for first time since 1917
1. USSR could not feed itself, big deal since Russia moving further away from communism
2. Fertilizer factories sprung up, tried to spark Russian agriculture
iv. Tried to gain control of electoral system
1. 2003- elections for Parliament- 56% of all the news coverage on a govt. network about Putin or United Russia
2. school children given assignments to estole virtues of United Russia or write something good about a candidate
3. as much as 400 million may have been spent on campaign by United Russia (8.3 million by law)
a. took out advertising contract with supermarket chain, everyone in each market had to wear UR hat and pin
b. ran an issueless campaign, platform is Putin
c. refused to debate, just pushed Putin
4. in 2007, same thing happened, millions of oppisition literature seized, distroyed
a. opposition parties couldn’t campaign, workers detained by police, beat-up
b. candidate for Yabloko party was shot and killed
v. Sept 2004, Putin pushed to restructure political system
1. Goes back after governors, Duma passed law ending popular election of regional governors, instead to be apointed by the President
2. Changed rules on getting seats in Duma
a. Used to be a party had to iwn 5% of overall vote, proportional representation
b. Now percentage went up to 7%, distiguised against small parties
c. Changed electoral system TO proportional representation
vi. Oct 2004, Putin pushed law giving him control over govt agency called Supreme Qualification Collegium
1. National agency tasked with appointing judges to federal courts, even top courts
2. New law allows Putin to name 11 of 21 members of the selection board, majority will be loyal to Putin, so he gains control of who becomes a federal judge
vii. Sept 2005, Duma passed bill requiring existing nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, to reregisster with central government, which then could decide whether they could continue
1. Outside political action prohibited, scared Americans could control NGOs
2. Bill has potential to close down offices in Russia of foreign NGOs
a. Like Human Rights Watch and election overseeing organizations
viii. Managed Democracy- democratic to the sense that the leaders would manage what they had to to keep them selves in power, though they would keep a democratic state.
ix. Illiberal Democracy- concept saying that liberty and democracy are seen hand in hand in the West, but they aren’t necessarily connected, you can have one without the other. They apply it to Russia, and curtailment of Russia may have support of majority of voters
1. After chaos under Yeltsin, people began to value censorship , for fear Amerian style democracy may be wreckless
x. Late 2007, Putin names Dimitri Medvedev as his personal choice for president of Russia and head of United Russia.
1. Won March 2008 election, then named Putin Prime Minister
b. Medvedev and Putin push through amendments, lengthening President’s term to six years, lengthens the Duma’s term to 5 years
i. Amendments required three sep votes in Duma, one in fed council, and regional ratification
ii. Opposition parties complain that the amendments violated 1998 law explaining how constitution may be amended
1. By law, Regional Governments have one year to make decision
2. After regions made ratification it had to go back to Federation Council in next legislative session
3. Amendments pushed through without Federation Council having looked back at it
c. Putin named chairman of United Russia, he can fire any functionary of activity he may not care for
i. Formalizing rules for control so he looks more democratic
ii. Because he can control both houses through UR, and Parliament can fire regional governors and other higher ups, Putin can control indirectly
iii. He also controls the Bureaucracy
iv. He’s not even an official member
d. Political Scientists wondering
i. Quickly amending the contitution may bring criticism of Putin, inflation on the rise, so is unemployment
ii. Putin channeling funds into banking system and provided emergency loans to his Oligarch friends
1. They owe foreign debts
iii. As govt spends millions of dollars, they ignore ordinary Russians who invested in stocks at request of govt.
iv. This downturn undermines Putin after he presented himself as a strong leader when he pushed wide known control of chaos that had occurred uder Gorbachev and Yeltsin