Politics of Russia
Uploaded by barbardo1 on Nov 16, 2008
Politics of Russia
INTRODUCTION
The history of the Russian people reflects an ever changing political environment that has taken twists and turns that have been bloody at times. The Russian government has evolved from various monarchies, to the empire of the Czars, to the brief democracy under the Duma, to revolutionary Communism, then finally a Post-Communism democracy. The interesting thing about the Russian model is that in all its forms it has been uniquely different then like models elsewhere. It is important to understand this one time super power and its ever evolving politics because how it evolves in the future will have an impact on the future of the world.
THE SLAVS OF RUS
The Slav people originated in central Asia and started to settle in European Russia in the 6th century along what is now the Ukraine River. In the 10th the princes of the Slavic state called Rus united the Slavs in Russian European area which began the history of the Russian people. This monarchy had a structure of royalty and nobility similar to other monarchies in Europe. The Russians had rural farmers called serfs that were basically slaves of the land owner Nobel. The serfs played a big role you will see in the evolution of the Russian political structure. The other major thing to develop in this period was when Vladimir, the prince of Kievan Rus (the early
Capital of Russia), forced his subjects to become baptized into the Eastern Orthodox Church (now called Russian Orthodox) in 988. This was a significant development because most of Europe was aligned with the Catholic Church and the Russian conversion to Eastern Orthodox aligned them with the Byzantine Empire which was at odds with the Catholics. This development served to isolate Russia from Europe and influenced there political development which was influenced by the church to take a different track then Western Europe was taking. The Russian people continued to prosper until the Tatar people led by the Khan of the Golden Horde evaded in 1242. The Tatars occupied Russia for 250 years and in there brutal take over they burned the capital of Kiev to the ground. The capital was moved to Moscow.
THE RISE OF THE CZARS
The rise of the Czars started when the Russian Princes of Moscow defeated the Tatar government in 1380. Under the Czar regimes Russia grew from an inferior monarchy constantly threatened by its...