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| former high-level Soviet officials & their allies who emerged as extremely rich and powerful elites |
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Term
| Negative definition concept |
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| a characterization or classification based on the absence rather than the presence of distinguishing characteristics |
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| classification based on the absences rather than the presence of distinguishing traits |
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| a political system in which power is dispersed among multiple actors |
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Definition
1. Executive & legislative are elected
2. Universal suffrage
3. Protections for civil & human rights
4. Elected officials are not only de jure policy makers but also de facto ones as well |
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Definition
| by law v. by actually/in practice |
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1. State captured by non-democratic leaders
2. Wholesale marginalized & disenfranchisement of population
3. Widespread use of state violence as a mechanism of control |
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| a ruling committee made up of a country’s military leadership; originally used in reference to Latin American dictatorships |
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| a legitimacy formula based on a claim to authority that results from the leader’s alleged favor in the eyes of god(s) |
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| the title given to Russian monarchs; derived from the German word meaning ‘emperor’ |
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| political system in which the head of the state is also the head of the official state religion |
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| the successful overthrow of Russia’s Tsarist regime in 1917; also known as the Russian Revolution |
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| communist revolutionaries under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin |
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| Three functions of Soviet Political Structures |
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Definition
• Party: Control
• Bureaucracy: Implement
• ‘State’: Legitimize |
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Term
| Characteristics of One-party rule in USSR |
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Definition
1. Constitutional monopoly
• Only a single party allowed by constitutional provision
2. Closed decision making process
• Democratic Centralism & Party Line
3. Interlocking membership with Bureaucracy & State |
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Term
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Definition
| style of decision making where discussions/debate is allowed at highest level, but once policy is chosen, everyone follows the ‘party line’ |
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Definition
| principles of a political party to which loyal members are expected to adhere |
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| system for filling sensitive positions within bureaucracy with trusted Party members |
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Term
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Definition
| in USSR, referred to a full-time Party functionary; now used to describe blindly devoted member of an organization, such as a political party |
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| centralized system in which states/provinces are given powers on paper which they cannot actually exercise |
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| any virtual or physical place within which individuals and groups congregate and interact with each other |
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Term
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Definition
1. Komsomol: Communist Union for Youth for those from 14-28 years old
2. Pioneers: Party group for those aged 9-14
3. Little Octobrist: for all the wee little Commies |
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Definition
| newspapers that served as the official organ of the Communist Party |
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| the clandestine copying & distribution of literature banned by the state |
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| a network of forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union |
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| one who actively opposes official rules & policies, particularly in an authoritarian state |
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| the intelligence & internal security agency of the former Soviet Union |
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| the first democratically elected post-Soviet leader |
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Definition
| a type of authoritarian regime in which an elected executive governs unilaterally & without constraint |
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Term
| Horizontal accountability |
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Definition
| ability of various branches of government to hold other branches accountable |
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Term
| Why did early democratization efforts fail? |
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Definition
1. Dislocation caused by economic reform
• Introduction of ‘shock therapy’ reforms caused enormous pain & dislocation (e.g. losing jobs, housing, health care, etc.) for most Russians
2. Runaway corruption & crime
• Most of the reforms benefited a tiny majority, the oligarchs through corrupt deals, most especially in an area of privatization
3. Fears of balkanization
• Weakened central government & nationalist aspirations in non-Russian republics created deep fear of balkanization |
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Term
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Definition
| rapid transition from state-controlled to free market economy |
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Definition
| selling of state-owned assets to private interest |
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| fragmentation or breaking of a country into small, ethnically-based territories |
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| means of controlling society while maintaining the appearance, but not practice, of democracy |
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| a Latin American term describing practice of subordinating laws, ideologies & parties to an individual leader |
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| the primacy of laws, rules & formal structures over informal sources of power |
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| the doctrine that no individual is above the law & that everyone must answer to it |
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| a term that describes something designed to give an illusion of something else; a façade |
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| government in which one or a small number of leaders exercise unrestrained power |
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Definition
| the lower house of the Russian Parliament |
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Definition
| the ability of a court to evaluate laws/acts by other branches of government & nullify them if deemed unconstitutional |
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Definition
| a court empowered to hear appeals of decisions made by lower courts |
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Definition
| parties created solely as vehicles for capturing control of the state, not for governing |
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Term
| Characteristics of parties of power |
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Definition
1. Lack ideological foundation
2. Absence of organization
3. Reliance on clientelism to rule |
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Definition
| a system of governing in which politicians directly offer tangible benefits (like jobs) in return for political support (like votes) form individuals or networks |
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Definition
| taking away powers of subnational governments & giving it to national government |
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Term
| Putin’s 3 major recentralizing ‘reforms’ |
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Definition
1. Creation of 7 new federal ‘super districts’
• All are headed by Presidential appointees; new layer of control
2. Reform of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament)
• Removal of governors (potential competitors) from the Council
3. Created a new presidential power to appoint & dismiss governors and to dissolve regional assemblies |
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Term
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Definition
| ministries or agencies relating to national security |
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Term
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Definition
1. FSB (Former KGB)
2. Foreign Ministry
3. Defense Ministry
4. Interior Ministry
• Border police, state broadcasting, etc. |
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Definition
| a body that supposedly represents civil society but whose members are appointed directly or indirectly by President |
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Definition
| non-profit, voluntary group that serve as citizen advocates and government watchdogs |
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| an economic system in which the state, not the market, determines what will be produced; opposite of a market economy |
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Definition
| an economic philosophy or policy which advocates sharply curtailed role for the state and a virtually unfettered private sector |
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Definition
| corrupt system of business in which family & friends are favored for government or company contracts, even if better candidates are available |
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Definition
| the aggregate of organizations & institutions unaffiliated with the state that voice the interest & will of citizens |
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Definition
1. A universalist ideology
2. Single mass party personality cult
3. Personality cult
4. Information monopoly
5. Extreme collectivism
6. State terror |
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Term
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Definition
| ideology in which distinctions between public/political & private/social spheres are rejected |
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Definition
| philosophy which emphasizes the primacy of the needs & rights of the group over those of the individual |
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Term
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Definition
1. Concerned with ‘public’ sphere
2. Repression of behavior
3. Predictable & targeted state terror with gain of control |
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Term
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Definition
1. Concerned with ‘public’ & ‘private’ spheres
2. Repression of beliefs/thoughts
3. ‘Random’ & indiscriminate state of terror with goal of atomization |
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