Russia’s Geography, History, and Governance

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Table of Contents

History And Geographical Settings
Governance And Policy Making
The Citizenry And Political Culture
The Future
Footnotes

History And Geographical Settings

Russia is the world’s largest nation by land area with over 17,075,400 square kilometers of land area. It is also the 9^th most populous with an estimated 142 Million People¹. Its wide geographical area makes classifying it difficult. In the area near Mongolia the predominant terrain is called Steppe, dry semi-arid ground ideal for grazing and little else while large parts of Russia’s north territory is artic or sub-artic because it is so far north. Finally, in the south-west towards the Black sea are the peat bogs where Russia’s oil and gas supplies come from.

The beginnings of what will become the modern Russian state can be found among the Slavic tribes who originated in the Pinsk Marshes². As the Germanic tribes migrated to the west they took over the lands they vacated. By the 7^th century A.D. the Slavs began to occupy Western Russia and assimilate the natives who remained there³.

The first major state to rise in Russia was the Kievan Rus state. It used both piracy and trade to support its roaming in Europe. By the mid-9^th century they were venturing as far as the Caspian sea⁴. It was from these peoples that the famed Varangian Guards of the Byzantine Emperors were recruited. The Kievan Rus would become Europe’s most prosperous state in the 10^th and 11^th centuries and would write the first Russian Code of Laws the Russkaya Pravda. Within a century after their golden age incursions by steppe nomads from the east and German crusaders to the west would weaken the Kievan Rus until the state broke down into several feudal realms similar to those found in the rest of Europe.

The demise of the Kievan Rus would also herald the rise of the Duchy of Moscow. It was originally one of the vassal states of Kievan Rus but would rise to prominence to take over in the power vacuum. The Duchy of Moscow absorbed other post-Kievan Rus states into its fold and would soon become the basis of the Modern Russian State following their defeat of the Mongols in the battle of Kulikovo in 1380. It was Ivan III who would unite Russia and claim the title of “Grand duke of all the Russias”. Eventually he would marry the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor and claim that his new empire is the successor to the Byzantines and therefore the Eastern Roman Empire. His son Ivan IV would be crowned Tsar adopted from the title Caesar and the title would subsist until 1917 when the last Tsar was dethroned by the Communists.

In October 1917, Communist rebels led by Vladmir Lenin succeeded where many previous rebellions failed. The Tsars were overthrown finally under the weight of its backward system of rule and the anger of their people. The communists would establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which includes Russia and a number of smaller states such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. After World War Two, the USSR would become the greatest threat to the free world as it tried to export its Communist ideals around the world. By the 1980s the burdened by the inefficiency of its centrally planned economy and unrest the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 ending the long Communist era of Russia.

Today the Russian Federation remains one of the largest countries in the world and heir to one of the largest conventional and nuclear arsenals in the world. The demise of Communism left Russia dysfunctional but it quickly recovered after instituting a wide array of reforms. Under Vladmir Putin’s two presidencies⁵ , Russia recovered well enough that it is now trying to reassert itself on the world stage.

Governance And Policy Making

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has been under a nominal democracy. This means that there is a president and a representative body and a judiciary. As a federation Russia is actually a collection of semi-independent states. As the former Soviet Union, many ex-Soviet institutions continued to subsist. The 1993 Constitution is the document that empowers the branches of Russian government.

The legislative body is bicameral meaning there are two chambers of congress. In Russia these are the State Duma and the Federation Council. The Federation Council is the senior chamber in that it has powers to enact federal law, approve treaties and even impeach the president. The State Duma has power only in the state it is from.

The Executive branch is headed by the President. Like most presidents, he has the power to declare war, veto bills and form a cabinet. He is also the commander in chief of the still formidable Russian Army. Perhaps the most famous Russian president to date was Vladmir Putin who some alleged was trying to amass power equal to his Soviet counterparts. He was in power for the maximum allowed two terms.

The Russian Judiciary is divided into the Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Arbitration and the lesser federal courts. Judges are appointed upon recommendation of the president. One point of interest is the existence of a Constitutional Court whose jurisdiction is limited to constitutional matters. This is interesting because unlike more mature democracies where constitutional issues are handled by the Supreme Court, Russia formed this court precisely to deal with such issues only.

The Citizenry And Political Culture

The sheer size of Russia results in many different minorities. Russians are in the majority at 79.8% of the population but Tartars, Ukrainians, Bakshikirs, Chechens and a host of other minorities make up the remaining 20.2%. Historically this has been a result of considerable friction for Russia. Minorities are naturally unhappy with being ruled by people they consider to be foreigners. Even the Russians themselves where once dominated by Tartars and Mongolians. Ethnic unrest was the reason behind the recent Chechen revolts. The Tsars, the Soviets and recently Putin have dealt with ethnic unrest by employing the might of the formidable Russian military. It is only under the current nominally democratic system of government that minorities have a voice in government.

Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religion in Russia. Judaism, Islam and other forms of Christianity are also present and respected. Orthodox Christianity came to Russia in the 10^th Century and has been the dominant religion since. Thanks largely to the anti-religious bias of the Communist regime many people were forced to, at least outwardly, renounce their religion. Between 16-48% of the population consider themselves non-believers⁶.

As with most other European states, Judaism was heavily suppressed. Even before Communist rule Jews were badly treated. The word pogrom, which originated in Russia, means a violent mob attack. The targets of the pogroms in Russia were almost uniformly the Jews.

Peasants have always been the basis of Russian Society. Since the days of the Tsars it was the peasant laboring in his farm that fuelled the economy that allowed the Tsars to fight his wars. Industrialization brought the onset of the factory worker. The worker and peasant represent the majority of Russians while a small elite of city dwelling intellectuals, businessmen and politicians comprise the rest. As a result the most of Russia is still rural with highly conservative values and since the fall of Communism are once again largely oblivious to the larger Russian polity. Urban Russians are rapidly catching up to the west in terms of social habits and consumption of luxuries but these up and coming groups are only a minority. Most Urban Russians still belong to the working class.

The Future

Russia’s future is bright. The Putin years have brought stability and order from the chaos of the post-Communist years. Russia economy is on the rise as the corruption and mismanagement brought by the sudden shift to a free-market have been largely stamped out.

Russia is again becoming relevant to World politics. Putin was closely aligned to US President George W. Bush in the war against terror. He believed that Russia can again be powerful and he has not hesitated to use force to assert this claim. For example, when Georgia allegedly oppressed the south Ossetians he did not hesitate to declare war against Georgia. Russia’s growing power also means that it can bully other smaller states into complying with their demands. One examples of which was they cut off natural gas supply to Ukraine to force them into submission.

One matter of interest is Russia’s military. Once the terror of the free world the Soviet military was largely cannibalized after the fall of communism and the Russian military is a pale shadow of its former self. However, It is still one of the most formidable forces in the world. Nuclear-powered battlecruisers, Transcontinental bombers and Ballistic missile submarines are just a few of the reasons why the Russian president is still arguable the most powerful person in the world. What seals this title is that fact that Russia still posses the largest Nuclear weapons stockpile in the world. Simply put the Russian bear still has a very big bite to back up its increasingly loud bark.

Footnotes

Russian Census. Web.
Barford, P.M. (2001). The Early Slavs. pp. 15–16.
Christian, D. (1998). A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia. pp. 6–7.
Obolensky, D. (1994). Byzantium and the Slavs. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press. p. 42.
Stone, N. “No wonder they like Putin”. The Times.
Zuckerman, P (2005). Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns, chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism.

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Russia’s Geography, History, and Governance

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