Some old russia notes from feb 20th-sorry so late

I. Parties
a. USSR- one party- communist
i. Through control of schools etc, able to fully indoctirnate citizens in idea that comies made no mistakes
b. Policy making accomplished at the highest levels fo the part, whether it was the oligarchy (politburo), or a dictator
i. As the moed towards democracy and into Russia system is weak
c. Unde rYeltsin, parties are brand new, only recently formed and win seats in national legislature
i. Leads to major clashes with Yeltsin to the point where he dissolved the legislature and created havoc
d. 42 parties were trying to win seats in the Duma in ’95, but only 4 parteis got the more than 5% of the vote to win seats
i. going into 1999, 26 parties vying
1. new party – Unity, formed around of personality of the Prime Minister, Vladmir Putin
a. on election day, Unity showed surprising strength
i. it had no platform other than support Putin
e. Setp 2003- dissappearance in # of small parties ((democratic parties- parties that formed under Yeltsin as Russia was tring to become more democratic)
i. In the end, 23 parties competed
ii. Only the communist party was an authenti political party with a national base of membership/constiuency
1. Everything else = local
iii. Brand new parties
1. United Russia
a. Formed by merger of Unity and Fatherland All Russia
i. Was and still is in most ways the old unity party
ii. Had no platform other than to support Putin
2. Motherland
a. Electoral trickster
b. Nationalist party (stronger Russia)
c. Approved by Putin
d. Tasked with running a campaign in order to take votes from the Communist party
e. Platform attacked Oligarchs, voter sentiment amongst people in favote of renationalizing Oligarh companies
iv. United Russia ended up gett 37.1% of vote Commie = 12.7%, the Liberal Democratic Party (based around Zhirinovsky) = 11.61%, Motherland = 9.1% of vote
1. Lib Dems- people who were absolutely bitter about Russia’s loss of statureon the global stage
2. Only 4 parties won seats in the Duma
3. Yabloko came in with 4.3% of vote, and Union of Right Forces came in with 4.6%
f. 2007 Elections
i. only 4 parties meet the now 7% needed to gain seats in Duma
ii. United Russia wins 315 seats out of 450
1. Gives them the 2/3 vote needed to amend the constitution, which accouts for the 2008 amendments going throguh
iii. After 2007, commie part still only tru opposition, holds 57 seats
iv. Liberal democrats win 40
v. New party called Fair Russia won 38 seats
1. Controlled by the government under Putin and was designed to do the same thing as Motherland (steal votes)
g. Reduction in # of parties, weakening of commie party signals the end of transitionn to Western Democracy
h. Parties still based on personalities of the leader of the party
i. Because of this, political scientist call the party system a Floating Party system
1. Parties based on political personalities seem to come and go and there isnt much continuitities in parties that contest elections and the voters that subscribe to them
i. Where is it going?
i. Russia looks more and more like a one party state at times
1. A lot of that due to law in 2006 raising percentage to vote needed to keep seats in Duma to 7%
a. Also requires political parties to prove they have mor etha 50,000 members nationally
b. Must prove they have functioning branches in at least 45 regions
i. Each branch must have 500 members
c. Combination of these rules caused more than 35 small parties to disband
2. Medvedev maybe forming a political party
j. Platforms
i. Communist party = furthest left on spectrum
1. Orginially totally opposed to Yeltsin and Gorbachev;s reform
2. Today favor redirecting economic reforms
a. More state protection of industry
b. Slow down privatization
c. Wide social security net for workers who lose their jobs and retire
ii. United Russia
1. Unity had no platform other than support Putin
2. Today UR characterized as “party of power”
a. Political party designed to keep Putin in power and in office
3. Put together in secret by early Oligarch
a. Boris Berezhovsky
b. B was first of Oligarchs to penetrate into system, advised Yeltsin
c. Splits with Putin, and one of the first ones run out of the country bu Putin
i. No longer a part of the party he supposedly founded
4. Fatherland All Russia = center left party
iii. Fair Russia
1. Created in 2006 supposedly designed as Junior partner in eventually two party system with UR, make it look like a democratic system
a. Putin was going to control both parties
2. Merged by Motherland, and 3 other countries
3. Never managed to seriously challenge the communists
iv. Liberal Democrats
1. Strong nationalists
2. Don’t like privatization
a. Have early success
i. Enough people hurt by loss of stature that they joined
3. Zhirinovsky very popular in the press
II. Constitution
a. USSR had on
i. Dominant role of the party was spelled out
1. Declare the communist party in the USSR was the leading and guiding force on soviet society
2. Operated within bounds of democratic centralism
3. Collective leadership- deisions for country made by consensus after freen and open discussion ad once decision was made, all members expected to accept int and carried it out
a. Didn’t work that way
b. Always led from top down by small #
b. Gorby to change this, constitutional and institutional restructuring
i. Introduces new office ito government
1. President- appointed himsself
2. Thought that clear head of government would make them look mor legitimate?
c. Republic of Russia
i. Created new office
1. Boris yeltsin elected by direct popular vote
2. Became obvious Russia needed to rewrite constitution, adopts revised consitution which borrowed many ideas from Western systems particularly France which had mix of President and Prime Minister (very strong president)
3. Putin follows cosntitution whileusing own dominance to interpret it the way he wanted, but still sticks with it somewhat
4. Rule of Law problem.