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post-soviet russia
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| free market/market economy | free trade of goods and services, market forces (eg supply and demand) determine prices, private property, profit motive |
| socialism | abolishment of private property |
| Marxism | scientific study of historical trends to determine what would happen in the future; historical materialism (tribal→ancient→feudal→capitalist→socialist/communist) |
| historical materialism | historical development results from changes in a society’s mode of production, which in turn determines changes in a society’s political institutions, social relations, and ideas and ideologies |
| proletariat | created during capitalist phase of historical materialism, consists of the working class |
| Lenin | Marxist who came to power following 1917 revolution & died in 1924 |
| Russian Marxism | form of Marxism championed by Lenin, essentially skips capitalist phase of historical materialism—idea that Russia can still have a revolution as long as they have professional revolutionaries to lead them (if workers might be led astray otherwise) |
| What is to be Done? | 1902 pamphlet professing main ideas of Russian Marxism |
| international revolution | socialism is an international movement, but workers in more developed countries have gotten comfortable with current situations, so Russians needed to jumpstart the movement—capital will be supplied by fully developed countries once they join revolution |
| Leninism | Russian Marxism + international revolution |
| Bolsheviks | majority faction of Marxists |
| Mensheviks | minority faction of Marxists |
| Liberals | pro-Western (democracy, free market, etc.) faction |
| Russo-Japanese War | first time an ethically white nation was defeated by another race, took place 1904-1905 |
| Revolution of 1905 | Tsar creates the Duma |
| Russian Revolution (1917-22) | overthrow of tsarist government, consists of February Revolution, dvoevlastie, October Revolution, and Civil War between Reds and Whites |
| February Revolution | creation of provisional government led by Liberals and Soviet of Workers Deputies, a council led by socialists |
| dvoevlastie | period of dual power between liberal Duma and socialist Soviet of Workers Deputies when it was not entirely clear who was in charge |
| October Revolution | in what was really November by the world calendar but October by the revolutionary calendar, the military revolutionary committee seized control of government and promised an end to war with Germany |
| Civil War | brutal war between Reds (Soviets) and Whites (Tsarists) that leads to more than 700,000 deaths and a reign of terror during which Bolsheviks kill political enemies and Whites attack Jews; there was also infighting among Reds (Bolsheviks vs. Mensheviks) |
| Council of People's Commissars | |
| Social Democratic Labour Party | consists of the Bolsheviks, becomes Communist Party in 1919 |
| All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Fighting Counterrevolution and Terrorism (Cheka) | security apparatus used to terrorize Liberals, then socialists revolutionaries, then Mensheviks |
| Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) | socialist federation founded in 1922 |
| New Economic Policy (NEP) | after abolishment of property, which caused famine, this new policy was instituted which went back to some semblance of free market in cases of smaller-scale industry such as agriculture |
| Trotsky | left opposition leader, supported rapid industrialization & agricultural squeeze |
| Bukharin | right opposition leader, supported development of agriculture before industrializing |
| Stalin | comes to power after Lenin’s death, dies in March 1953 |
| Stalinism | form of Marxism consisting of socialism in one country, revolution from above, industrialization/modernization, agricultural collectivization, terror, cult of personality |
| first five year plan | Stalin’s goal of building an industrial base through agricultural collectivization, the plan resulted in economic growth, technological progress, and a spike in literacy |
| The Great Terror | People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) replaces Cheka, Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies (GULag) established, Great Purge (1936-38) rids government & military of people Stalin sees as potential threats/enemies |
| cult of personality | over-the-top idolization of Stalin, with non-participation punishable by prison/death |
| Khruschchev | unpopular leader following Stalin, pushed out of office by leading party elite—only Soviet leader not to die in office |
| Khruschchev Era | 1953-64, characterized by the Thaw, increase in standard of living, and scientific achievements, specifically regarding space exploration |
| XXth Party Congress Speech | 1956 speech declaring that Stalin, despite cult of personality, actually made some major mistakes including his institution of the NKVD, which perverted the socialist system |
| The Thaw | after XXth Party Congress Secret Speech, NKVD is dismantled and replaced by Committee for State Security (KGB), people accused of being enemies of the state under NKVD are released/rehabilitated, and censorship is temporarily reduced |
| Committee for State Security (KGB) | security apparatus that replaced NKVD |
| Sputnik | first satellite in space (1957)—shocked West, which believed Soviet Union to be far behind technologically |
| Gagarin | first person in space (1962) |
| Brezhnev | Soviet leader following Kruschchev, by the end of his reign/life, he is kept in place as a puppet rather than being allowed to retire |
| Brezhnev Era | 1964-1982, characterized by developed socialism, military parity with US, continued oppression, stagnation in economic growth and ideology, continued cult of personality, corruption, nomenklatura class, and geritocracy |
| Soviet way of life | idea that while communist utopia might not be realistically achievable, the current system is pretty good as is |
| nomenklatura class | elite ruling class consisting of people who made the list of potential candidates for Communist Party positions |
| geritocracy | society ruled by the old—average age of leadership over 70, rulers from Breszhnev on all really old |
| Gorbachev | comes into power in 1985 after series of old guys; “the last true believer,” he really believes in socialism and wants to make it work—realizes the economy is staggering and needs to be reformed if the socialist system is going to survive |
| totalitarianism | gov controls political, economic, and social spheres; emphasis on ideology as a historic mission, use of terror, control of all sources of information, elimination of opposition, distortion of historical fact, leading role of the party, command economy |
| command economy | characterized by planning, administrative prices, state ownership, and output motive; consequences include distorted incentives (caused by emphasis on output, not cost), inefficiency, distorted economic structure, shortages, and informal economy |
| blat | use of informal agreements/connections/black market deals to achieve targets or get ahead |
| tolkachi | middleman |
| perestroika | rebuilding of economic system & foreign policy (new thinking) |
| new thinking | Gorbachev’s new take on foreign policy, emphasizes diplomacy without use of force, eg 1986 Reykjavik Summit , 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and 1989 end of war in Afghanistan |
| Reykjavik Summit | |
| Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty | |
| Gorbachev's economic reforms | ban on vodka, 1987 Law on State Enterprises, 1988 Law on Cooperatives |
| Law on State Enterprises (1987) | adds incentive to produce by allowing firms that exceed target to keep surplus |
| Law on Cooperatives (1988) | allowed people to sell goods at market prices—in combination with Law on State Enterprises, allowed firms to sell surplus at market price; represented beginnings of small-scale private economy |
| Gorbachev's political reforms | implemented as a means to economic reforms, included purge of conservatives, glasnost, & formation of opposition |
| glasnost | openness; allowed more freedom of expression/freedom of the press |
| Neformaly | memorial commemorating Stalin’s victims |
| Democratic Union | opposition “party” whose founding was encouraged by Gorbachev |
| Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union | start of democratization, elections held March 1989 with a majority of Communists winning seats—but 17% of the opposition also end up in power; the next year, 40% of seats go to Democratic Russia |
| Soviet presidency | chosen by Supreme Soviet, not election—Gorbachev held this position |
| Kunaev | ethnic Kazakhstanian replaced by ethnic Russian as general secretary of Kazakhstan in December 1986 under Gorbachev; example of ethnic conflict/nationalism |
| parade of sovereignties | chain of Soviet states declaring independence in rapid succession |
| Boris Yeltsin | took over power from Gorbachev when Soviet Union collapses; becomes president of Russia at the republic level in 1991 |
| Brezhnev Doctrine (1968) | declaration that Soviet Union will intervene in eastern Europe to put down any sort of threat to socialism following uprising in Czechoslovakia |
| Solidarity | grassroots movement in Poland led by workers, ends up winning big in 1989 Democratic elections, pushing the Communist party out of power |
| Berlin Wall | falls in 1989—biggest symbol of collapse of Soviet Union |
| G. Yanaev | conservative who comes to power during Gorbachev’s reign, stages 1991 coup |
| B. Pugo | conservative who comes to power during Gorbachev’s reign, stages 1991 coup |
| V. Pavlolv | conservative who comes to power during Gorbachev’s reign, stages 1991 coup |
| E. Shevardnadze | liberal who leaves power when conservatives come into power |
| A. Yakolev | liberal who leaves power when conservatives come into power |
| Spring 1991 Coup | movement by conservatives in Russian congress to unseat Yeltsin; Gorbachev bans public protests then brings in 50,000 soldiers to implement coup, but Democratic Russia puts out hundreds of thousands of protestors and coup fails |
| 500 Day Plan | 1990 plan to transition to capitalism in 500 days; Yeltsin declares he’s capable of actually carrying out this plan, which Gorbachev is initially for, but then Gorbachev backs out at the last second and doesn’t implement it |
| August 1991 Coup | conservative attempt to prevent union treaty from being signed while Gorbachee on vacation in South Africa, but coup is poorly carried out and ultimately fails (Yeltsin & Duma rise up in opposition and coup leaders back down) |
| Iron Felix | statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of KGB, gets torn down following August 1991 Coup |
| Belovezshskaya Accords (December 1991) | original parts of Soviet Union get together and sign treaties to dissolve it |
| democratic regime | a regime in which the rules allow the people to access power, either by directly running for office or by choosing their representatives |
| procedural definition of democracy | democracy as defined by free and fair elections and the civil liberties needed to make them meaningful |
| Russian transition to democracy | more or less occurred by 1992; Russia had free & fair elections, civil liberties through Gorbachev’s reforms |
| The Time of Troubles (1991-93) | reference to earlier Time of Troubles in the 1600s, characterized by rise in homicides, lower life expectancy, economic troubles |
| Yegor Gaidar | economic advisor under Yeltsin, leader of young group of economists who supported a shock therapy policy of economic reform |
| Democratic Choice of Russia | new party that forms from splintering of Democratic Russia over inability to agree on a single idea to improve the economy |
| Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) | Communist Party was banned following coup, party returns after banning found unconstitutional and becomes a key political player in the 90s—advocates socialism to an uncertain degree and nationalism (eg opposes Yeltsin’s dissolution of the Soviet Union) |
| Ruslan Khasbulatov | head of Congress of People’s Deputies, leads anti-reform opposition against Yeltsin, builds up army in preparation for potential conflict with Yeltsin |
| April 1993 Referendum | Yeltsin wants to have referendum regarding economic reform, congress turns it into a referendum on Yeltsin, Yeltsin misses opportunity to hold early elections while he still has popular support and continues to try and push econ reforms through congress |
| August 1992 constitutional amendments | these amendments, which would come into effect in Nov, would strongly curtail president’s power; Yeltsin reacts by abolishing congress in Sep, congress refuses to leave white house, Yeltsin eventually comes away w/ win after firing on White House |
| December 1993 State Duma elections | duma to take the place of the Supreme Soviet, function as transitional duma for 2 years for the purpose of passing a new constitution, results in election of opposition |
| semi-presidential system | adopted by Russia after 1994; electorate elects legislature and president, and the president nominates a prime minister who the legislature then confirms |
| Chechen war | after Dudayev’s coup, Russia attempts to invade and fails, war drags on with Chechnyan attacks on Russia until finally Yeltsin calls a ceasefire in time for the 1996 elections—Chechnya at the time characterized by warlordism & bad economy |
| Korzhakov | oligarch |
| 1990 economic crisis | catastrophic collapse akin to Great Depression, with inflation at times reaching as high as 240%—upwards of 2000% yearly |
| June 1996 presidential elections | Yeltsin vs. Zyuganov, advisors worried that Yeltsin would lose and try to postpone elections but Yeltsin pulls off a win with support of oligarchs and vigorous political allies after ending highly unpopular war in Chechnya |
| nation | a community of people who share a common language or ethnicity |
| state | a defined territory, permanent population, and government possessing sovereignty over the territory |
| rossiskii | |
| russki | |
| federal state | a state in which sub-national political units have a constitutional right to some degree of self-government |
| Federation Council | similar to senate, allowed republic presidents/state governors to be members, supposed to approves use of force, appoints high-level judges, has a part of impeachment, etc., but really just a place for regional leaders to coordinate political activity |
| Federal Security Services (FSB) | security apparatus from 1995-present |
| Dudayev's coup | in August 1991, Dudayev throws coup, has local elections, becomes president, and declares independence from Russia in November 1991 |
| Shamil Basayev | leads attack on Budyonnovsk, example of Chechnyans attacking Russia |
| Anatoly Chubais | head of privatization under Yeltsin’s economic reforms |
| shock therapy | liberalization, privatization, and stabilization are complementary; idea that one cannot be done without the other, so all three must be done at once while Yeltsin is powerful enough to make them happen and before a real opposition can form |
| gradualism | sequencing of reforms, allows for correcting and making mistakes, idea that a support system needs to be established before liberalization & privatization can be fully carried out for a less harsh transition & less suffering by the Russian population |
| liberalization | removal of constraints on prices and trade; one of the first things the government does under Yeltsin is liberalize prices, with key exceptions of bread and vodka |
| macroeconomic stabilization | imposition of constraints on money supply and discipline over government budget with the goal of holding inflation in check |
| microeconomic stabilization | abolishment of subsidies and credits to enterprise with goal of creating market incentives |
| vouchers | free stock in company given out as part of large-scale privatization; rapidly created private ownership but dispersed ownership inefficiently and caused an unfair distribution of ownership |
| loans for shares | banks receive shares in major firms as collateral for loans to government, and when loans aren’t repaid, bank gets the right auction off those shares; corruption occurs & bank owners end up buying the shares themselves at prices barely above the minimum |
| Yukos, Sibneft, and Norilsk Nickel | key companies that fell into the hands of oligarchs Khodorkovsky, BErezovsky, and Potanin as a result of loans for shares deal |
| Vladimir Potanin | oligarch in control of Interros, Uneximbank, and Norilsk |
| beznalichnye into nalichnye | non-cash into cash; Khordokovsky figured out how to turn beznalichnye into US dollars through loopholes in partially formed legislation |
| Mikhail Khordokovsky | oligarch in control of Menatep & Yukos who turned beznalichyne into nalichnye; when Putin comes into power, he begins launching investigations into oligarchs and Khordokovsky is charged with fraud and tax evasion, ends up imprisoned |
| Boriz Berezovsky | oligarch in control of Logovas, ORT, Sibneft |
| vory v zakone | criminals from Soviet era who were part of mafia |
| bandity | big, tough guys—boxers, athletes, soldiers returning from war—who were part of mafia |
| krysha | protection racket |
| August 1998 crash | Russia had just began to return to growth when the combination of budget deficit problems from GKOs & lack of functioning tax code and 1997 Asian financial crisis forces Russia to default on loans, which in turn leads to major devaluation of the ruble |
| GKO | short-term government bonds |
| 1997 Asian financial crisis | financial crisis scares investors away from emerging markets |
| August 17, 1998 default | defaults on loans, and allows the ruble to devalue |
| Cold War | period of tension between socialism and capitalism, key characteristics include bipolar superpower conflict, proxy wars, & arms race—period ends under Gorbachev’s “new thinking” |
| Andrey Kozyrev | Westernizer, prime/foreign minister? from 1991-96 |
| Evgeny Primakov | promoted Eurasianism, prime/foreign minister? from 1996-98; he was big on multi-polarity & as an ex-prime minister was a likely candidate to succeed Yeltsin |
| NATO | North Atlantic Treaty Organization, founded in 1949, expansionism causes tension between US and Russia in late 90s/early 2000s |
| Warsaw Pact (1955) | |
| Commonwealth of INdependent States | |
| Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan Piplein | Russia wants this pipeline to only go through its territory, but surrounding states want to redirect it through their territory to cut off Russian control |
| Kosovo Bombings (1999) | NATO bombs Kosovo as a means of stopping genocide of ethnic Albanian Muslims by Serbs, but ends up killing/displacing civilians; legality questionable & Russia upset because it wanted to play a role in any peace keeping/intervention |
| Vladimir Putin | ex-KGB who comes to power after Yeltsin names him as his successor through his rotating prime ministers, his main goal was to restore order even if it mean sacrificing democracy and federalism |
| Vertical vlasti | vertical of power created by Putin; Putin appoints heads of seven federal administrative districts in 2000 to look over regions within their districts in an attempt to bring regional laws in line with federal laws; in 2005 he begins appointing governors |
| Yury Luzhkiv: | mayor of Moscow who was a likely candidate to succeed Yeltsin |
| Anatoly Sobchak | St. Petersburg mayor who was a close associate of Putin |
| Moscow apartment bombings | September 1999, part of second Chechnya conflict |
| December 1991 Duma eletions | Unity vs. Fatherland-All-Russia (OVR); Unity despite being newly created in September shoots up in popularity and gets 23% of seats compared to OVR’s 13% |
| Fatherland-All-Russia (OVR) | presidential candidates Luzhkiv and Primakov team up to create this party in an attempt to dominate the Duma |
| Unity | Kremlin party that appears out of nowhere two months before 1999 Duma elections; has the backing of oligarchs and shoots up in popularity |
| United Russia | party created from merging of Yeltsin’s party and Putin’s party, wins 50% of Duma seats in 2003 and 70% of seats in 2007, as well as a majority in all regional legislatures |
| 2005 electoral reform | 7% threshold to get any representation, change from a split between proportion representation voting and single person voting to entirely PR voting |
| Dubrovka theater | act of terrorism in October 2002 |
| Beslan school | act of terrorism in September 2004 |
| color revolutions | Georgia’s November 2003 Rose Revolutions, Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (Nov. 2004-Jan. 2005), Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution in March 2005 |
| siloviki | FSB, military, interior ministry |
| silovarchs | siloviki who become oligarchs |
| Anna Politkovskaya | journalist killed in October 2006 for criticizing Putin |
| Aleksandr Litvienok | former spy killed in November 2006 |
| Ramzan | son of Akhmat Kadyrov who replaces him when he is killed in 2004, restores order in Checynya |
| Medvedev | Putin’s successor, rules in tandem with Putin, expresses liberal leanings but acts more as Putin’s puppet |
| tandemocracy | Putin & Medvedev ruling in tandem, switiching off between president and Prime Minister |
| 2008-2009 financial crisis | US crisis hits Russia |
| 2008 Georgian war | Russian agents in Georgia are arrested & Russia reacts by putting huge sanctions on Georgia; eventually Russian peacekeepers end up getting killed by Georgian shelling of civilians in August 2008, which Russia responds to by bringing in its own army |
| orderly democracy | idea that democracy is good, but disorder is worse |
| nashi | kremlin youth movement |
| competitive authoritarianism | formal democratic institutions, informal authoritarian practices |
| dominant-party regime | one party controls access to political offices—there are opposition parties, but they have little chance of actually making an impact |
| Putin's economic policies | budget surplus, international reserves, reduction of foreign debt |
| Putin's institutional reforms | judicial reform, banking reform, land reform (makes it possible to buy and sell land), deregulation (easier to get business licenses), tax reform (flat tax, bringing regional governors under control & establishing clear rules about who has power to tax) |
| foreign direct investment | foreign investing in local companies and bringing technology/management knowledge to help them function better |
| initial public offerings (IPOs) | opening Russian firms up to foreign stock exchanges |
| dependence on oil | 60-70% of export, 10-30% of GDP, 40-50% of budget revenue |
| resource curse | access to resource wealth delays reforms |
| Skolkovo project | Russian Silicon Valley, attempt to artificially develop technology sector of economy |
| Roman Abramovich | compliant oligarch under Putin |
| Mikahail Prokhorov | compliant oligarch under Putin |
| Igor Sechin | silovarch under Putin |
| banditskaya krysha | |
| mentovskaya krysha | |
| reiderstvo | illegal corporate raiding |
| Putin's overtures to West | condolences after 9/11, base closings in Cuba and Vietnam, counter-terrorism cooperation, nuclear disarmament talks (SORT + ABM) |
| Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) | May 2002 disarmament treaty |
| End of Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty | June 2002 disarmament treaty |
| Jackson-Vanik Amendment | obsolete American law from Soviet Union era that Congress refused to repeal |
| Saakashvili | pro-Western leader brought to power during Georgia’s Rose Revolution in November 2003 |
| Yuschenko | pro-Western leader who replaces pro-Russian Yanukovich during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in November 2004 |
| Munich Security Conference speech | Feburary 2007 speech in which Putin? antagonizes US? |
| Suspending Convential Forces in Europe Treaty | April 2007 treaty between NATO and Warsaw Pact that limits number of troops countries could have in other countries; NATO refuses to ratify it unless Russia withdraws troops from Georgia and Moldova |
| The Reset | one last attempt to hit the reset button on US/Russia relations, it included more disarmament treaties (NMD and START) |
| NMD | national missile defense |
| START | disarmament treaty in April 2010 |
| 2011-2012 Syrian crisis | |
| Magnitsky Act | ban on US adoptions of Russian kids, response to US immigration ban (Jackson-Vanik Amendment?) |
| Aleksandr Navalny | nationalist leader in “snow revolution,” starts finding evidence of corruption in elections |
| Ksenia Sobchak | daughter of Anatoly Sobchak who was involved in revolution movement |
| "for free elections" | slogan of opposition to Putin following 2011 Duma elections, which they want to void after major election fraud |
| Post-Communist "Natural" Experiment | 29 countries exiting communism simultaneously, seeking to build democracy and capitalism |
| reverse causality | A causes B, but B also causes A |
| spurious correlation | A causes B, but an omitted variable, C, causes both A and B |
| collinearity | many of the explanatory factors line up together so well they can’t be pulled apart |
| structural explanations for post-communist development | socioeconomic development, proximity to Europe, natural resources, ethnic diversity |
| rentier effect | a country that can develop without taxing leads to less immediate means for people to hold government accountable |
| repression effect | well-armed military, well-armed security apparatus found when naturals resources are high percentage of GDP & exports, which makes it easier for government to be less democratic and more authoritarian |
| modernization effect | countries that became rich without modernization (eg from natural resources such as oil) are not as democratic as other rich countries |
| institutional explanations for post-communist development | economic reforms, superpresidentialism |
| elite usurpation | idea that the only way to make reforms work is for elite to lead the way |
| strategic explanations for post-communist devlopment | modes of transition |
| Andrei Sakharov | political prisoner released under glasnost in 1986 |
| Chernobyl disaster | 1986 cover-up involving huge nuclear plant exposed; Gorbachev encouraged reporting of this kind under glasnost |
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