{"id":1165,"date":"2010-07-22T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2014-07-17T13:23:43","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T13:23:43","slug":"russian-politics-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/russian-politics-101\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Politics 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Our next guest blogger, Natalie, is a university student studying history and the Russian language.\u00a0 She writes the blog birdbrain<\/a> and can be found on Twitter at @natalie_<\/a>.\u00a0 Her interest in the Russian language was sparked by Russian history and a Russian course at university and she’s been hooked ever since.<\/em><\/p>\n

When learning about a new country, learning about its culture is an inevitable occurrence, along with politics.\u00a0 Politics is an integral part of culture and extremely important, even for those who wish to remain apolitical.<\/p>\n

During the Communist era, the USSR was a one-party state.\u00a0 Parties other than \u00ab\u041a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0443\u043d\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043f<\/strong>\u0430<\/span><\/strong>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u044f \u0421\u043e\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0421\u043e\u044e<\/span>\u0437\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [Communist Party of the Soviet Union] were outlawed.\u00a0 Luckily, with the fall of the Soviet Union, this has changed.\u00a0 Today, Russia has quite a variety of political parties led by very colorful politicians.\u00a0 \u00ab\u0414\u0430\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0437\u043d<\/strong>\u0430<\/strong>\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u0438\u043c\u0441\u044f!\u00bb<\/strong> [Let’s get acquainted!]<\/p>\n

The party that has the majority in the Russian parliament, \u00ab\u0414\u0443<\/span>\u043c\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [Duma], is called \u00ab\u0415\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> [United Russia].\u00a0 \u00ab\u041b\u0438<\/span>\u0434\u0435\u0440 \u043f\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u0438 \u00ab\u0415\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u044f\u00bb–<\/strong>\u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0438\u0440 \u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0447 \u041f\u0443\u0442\u0438\u043d\u00bb [The leader of United Russia is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin].\u00a0 \u00ab\u0415\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> was founded on December 1, 2001 and is very popular: 315 of the 450 representatives in the \u00ab\u0414\u0443<\/span>\u043c\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> are members of \u00ab\u0415\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u044f\u00bb.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ideology of the party has been broadly described as \u00ab\u0446\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [centrism] and \u00ab\u0441\u043e\u0446\u0438<\/strong>\u0430<\/span><\/strong>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043a\u043e\u043d\u0441\u0435\u0440\u0432\u0430\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [social conservatism]. \u00ab\u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043c\u0438\u0440 \u041f\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u043d\u00bb<\/strong> has led the party since May 7, 2008 (he could not lead it before because he was president and the president of the Russian Federation cannot be a member of a political party). \u00ab\u041f\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u043d\u00bb<\/strong> is now \u00ab\u041f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0435\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c \u041f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0430 \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0424\u0435\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0446\u0438\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [Prime Minister of the Russian Federation–literally, it means “Chair of the Government of the Russian Federation”].<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u041a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0443\u043d\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043f\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0424\u0435\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0446\u0438\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [Communist Party of the Russian Federation] is the second-most powerful party in the \u00ab\u0414\u0443<\/span>\u043c\u0430\u00bb<\/strong>–it holds 57 of the 450 seats.\u00a0 It is the successor to \u00ab\u041a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0443\u043d\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043f\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u044f \u0421\u043e\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0421\u043e\u044e<\/span>\u0437\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [Communist Party of the Soviet Union]. \u00a0It has been led by \u00ab\u0413\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u0434\u0438\u0439 \u0410\u043d\u0434\u0440\u0435<\/span>\u0435\u0432\u0438\u0447 \u0417\u044e\u0433\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043e\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> [Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov] since 2001. \u00ab\u0417\u044e\u0433\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043e\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> is a very educated man: \u00ab\u043e\u043d \u0437\u0430\u043d\u0438\u043c\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u0441\u044f \u0444\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0438 \u043c\u0430\u0442\u0435\u043c\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0432 \u0438\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0438\u0442\u0443<\/span>\u0442<\/strong>\u0435<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [he studied physics and mathematics at an institute].\u00a0 \u00ab<\/strong>\u0417<\/strong>\u044e\u0433\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043e\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> is also \u00ab\u0434\u043e<\/span>\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440 \u0444\u0438\u043b\u043e\u0441\u043e<\/span>\u0444\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u043d\u0430\u0443<\/span>\u043a\u00bb<\/strong> [doctor of philosophy], which is a degree one level higher than an American Ph.D.\u00a0 He also ran for president in the past and had this election poster in 1996.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u041b\u0438\u0431\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e-\u0434\u0435\u043c\u043e\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043f\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia] holds 40 out of the 450 seats in the \u00ab\u0414\u0443<\/span>\u043c\u0430\u00bb<\/strong>.\u00a0 Some of its philosophies are \u00ab\u043d\u0430\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u0430\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u043c \u0438 \u043f\u043e\u043f\u0443\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [nationalism and populism].\u00a0 Its leader, \u00ab\u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043c\u0438\u0440 \u0412\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0444\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0447 \u0416\u0438\u0440\u0438\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky] is one of Russia’s most colorful politicians and is famous for saying outrageous things<\/a>.\u00a0 For example, during the bird flu scare, he said that Russians should shoot migrating birds.\u00a0 Even his past is not very typical: he’s the only politician mentioned in this post who was not born in Russia. \u00ab\u041e\u043d \u0440\u043e\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0441\u044f \u0432 \u0441\u0442\u043e\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0446\u0435 \u041a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0445\u0441\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043d<\/strong>\u0430<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [He was born in the capital of Kazakhstan].\u00a0 He has made anti-Semitic remarks on many occasions and engaged in physical fights with political opponents.<\/p>\n

The last party that has seats in the \u00ab\u0414\u0443<\/span>\u043c\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> is \u00ab\u0421\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u0435\u0434\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> [A Just Russia].\u00a0 It holds the remaining 38 seats.\u00a0 Its philosophy is \u00ab\u0441\u043e\u0446\u0438\u0430<\/span>\u043b-\u0434\u0435\u043c\u043e\u043a\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> [social democracy].\u00a0 Its leader is \u00ab\u0421\u0435\u0440\u0433\u0435<\/span>\u0439 \u041c\u0438\u0445\u0430<\/span>\u0439\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0447 \u041c\u0438\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u043d\u043e\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> [Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov].\u00a0 \u00ab\u0421\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u0435\u0434\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u0432\u0430\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> is probably the most typical and tame of the parties, but perhaps it just seems that way in comparison to the colorful and controversial \u00ab\u041b\u0438\u0431\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e-\u0434\u0435\u043c\u043e\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043f\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u044f \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0438\u00bb.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though these are the only parties currently in the parliament, there are other political parties.\u00a0 My favorite is \u00ab<\/strong>\u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043e\u0431\u044a\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0451<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0434\u0435\u043c\u043e\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043f\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0442\u0438\u044f \u00ab\u042f<\/span>\u0411\u041b\u041e\u041a\u041e\u00bb<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko].\u00a0 Why, you may be thinking, is this party one of my favorites?\u00a0 I simply like the name of it: \u00ab\u044f<\/span>\u0431\u043b\u043e\u043a\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> means “apple” in Russian, and I think it’s very funny to have a political party named after a fruit.<\/p>\n

A discussion of Russian politics would not be complete without mention of \u00ab\u0414\u043c\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0440\u0438\u0439 \u0410\u043d\u0430\u0442\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0435\u0432\u0438\u0447 \u041c\u0435\u0434\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u0435\u0432, \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0437\u0438\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0442 \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0424\u0435\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0446\u0438\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, President<\/a> of the Russian Federation].\u00a0 \u00ab\u041c\u0435\u0434\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u0435\u0432 \u0440\u043e\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0441\u044f \u0432 \u041b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u043d\u0433\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0434\u0435, \u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043a \u0436\u0435, \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0438 \u041f\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u043d\u00bb<\/strong> [Medvedev was born in Leningrad, like Putin].\u00a0 \u00ab\u041e\u043d \u0443\u0447\u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0441\u044f \u0432 \u041b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u043d\u0433\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0434\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c \u0413\u043e\u0441\u0443\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u043c \u0423\u043d\u0438\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0435 \u043d\u0430 \u044e\u0440\u0438\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c \u0444\u0430\u043a\u0443\u043b\u044c\u0442\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u00bb<\/strong> [He studied law at Leningrad State University].\u00a0 He worked as a lawyer and then worked in the Russian government.\u00a0 In the elections in 2008, he received crucial support from Putin, as can be seen by the political poster below:<\/p>\n

Like his predecessor \u00ab\u041f\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u0438\u043d\u00bb, \u00ab\u041c\u0435\u0434\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0434\u0435\u0432\u00bb<\/strong> has retained relatively high ratings from the Russian population.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0412\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u044c\u0442\u0435 \u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0438 \u043d\u0435 \u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u044c\u0442\u0435\u00bb<\/strong> [Believe it or not], we have only scratched the surface of Russian politics, an extremely complicated and complex topic.\u00a0 Hopefully I will have the opportunity to write a follow-up post in which we’ll explore some of the less well-known political parties and developments in Russia.<\/p>\n

Note from Yelena: I also believe \u00ab<\/strong><\/em>\u042f<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u0431\u043b\u043e\u043a\u043e<\/em><\/strong>\u00bb is one of the most creatively-named parties. But do you know that the first three letters of the name – <\/em>\u042f<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em><\/strong>\u0411<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em><\/strong>\u041b<\/em><\/strong> – are the first letters of the last names of the three founding fathers of this party – <\/em>\u042f\u0432\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>\u0411\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u0434\u044b\u0440\u0435\u0432<\/em><\/strong>\u0438<\/em><\/strong>\u041b\u0443\u043a\u0438<\/span>\u043d<\/em><\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Our next guest blogger, Natalie, is a university student studying history and the Russian language.\u00a0 She writes the blog birdbrain and can be found on Twitter at @natalie_.\u00a0 Her interest in the Russian language was sparked by Russian history and a Russian course at university and she’s been hooked ever since. When learning about a…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":1168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[7827],"tags":[1211,10171,1264],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-life","tag-russia","tag-russian-government","tag-russian-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6182,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions\/6182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}