วันอาทิตย์ที่ 22 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2552

An Overview of the Politics in Russia

By Ivan G

Political system in Russia has countered massive challenged since its independence through the collapse of Soviet Union in the year 1991. The challenges were far from over even in 1993 when the then President Boris Yeltsin resorted to military forces to dislodge the current parliament and announce fresh elections. The Russian constitutional crisis that took place in 1993 has been the favorite subject of discussion on the Russian Forum. The 1978 constitution adopted by the then Russian Republic was shelved in favor of the new constitution of 1993. The new constitution provided for a strong presidential system and was approved in the process of referendum in December that year.

This brought into fore the present Russian political structure. The country is a federal presidential republic headed by the President. There is multi party system in the country with the executive powers vested in the government headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister on turn is appointed by the President with the approval of the Parliament. Legislative powers in the country rest with the two chambers constituting the Federal Assembly. Many contradictory opinions have come up on the Russian Forum on the system of issuance of bye laws by the President and the government that are binding on all concerned.

However, after the turmoil of 1993, gradually there were signs of stabilization in the Russian political scenario. There was visible decline in the powers of the national government. The regional authorities on the contrary made significant gains in terms of powers. This resulted in the regional governments getting regular political as well as economic concessions from Moscow. The tussle between the executive and the legislative branches for power still continued despite the intensity declining. View the Russian Forum to find out how the conflict for power and superiority has plagued the relationship between the two pillars of the constitutional set up in Russia.

Peculiarity of the scenario was the pro-reformative attitude of the executive as against the anti-reformist stand taken by the lower house of the Russian Parliament, the Duma. This was something in sharp contrast to the scenarios in most other western and developed countries where the representatives of the people constantly fought for reforms on the wake of strong executive oppositions. Since its coming into being the Russian Republic later renamed as USSR or the United Soviet Socialist Republic never allowed free discussion on any Russian Forum. For the first time peoples voice were heard of and such discussion on the forums were allowed with the introduction of the liberal policies by Michael Gorbachov. The policies of glasmost or peoples voice brought revolutionary changes in the Russian political atmosphere.

These developments were highly responsible for the coming into power of Yeltsin elected by popular vote. The most positive result was the collapse of the August Coup by plotters to overthrow Gorbachov that failed thanks to resolute opposition by Yeltsin. Gorbachov returned as President but his powers and positions were greatly reduced. Baltic States achieved complete independence. Estonia, Latavia, and Lithuania followed suit. Events followed in quick succession with Ukrain achieving independence by referendum and finally the Soviet Union ceased to exist. On the other hand Russia gained world wide recognition as the legal successor to the erstwhile Soviet Union with a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. From then till date Russia has come a long way. President Dmitriy Medvedev, the hand picked successor to former President Vladimir Putin are heading a strong Presidential Government. Pre poll results on Russian Forum indicated a landslide victory for Medvedeb and that exactly happened in the presidential elections of 2009 with United Russia dominating the scenario as the leading political party in Russia.

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