Russia has always struggled to overcome obstacles such as invasions, and poor living conditions. The physical geography of Russia has certainly contributed to these challenges. Russian culture is set in a position of unstable existence in which hardship is inevitable. They are forced to overcome severe climate extremes with bitter Siberian winters and remote frontiers that hinder advances in health care and education. This struggle between a culture and the forces of nature is an improbable battle and has resulted in a society unable to fulfill the needs of its people and has always been a major obstacle to strong programs. However some influences and challenges change with the type of government in control. Russia’s standard of living has deteriorated since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its’ health care and education systems have suffered greatly since the decline of communism, and have contributed to Russia’s slide downhill from being among the top world powers to a nation of poverty stricken economic depression. Russia’s lack of proper health care and education since the demise of the Soviet Union is a sad reality and an unfortunate commentary on life in Russia today.
Education flourished under communist control. The literacy rate is a good indicator of educational effectiveness in Russia. “Before communism, only a quarter of Russians could read and write, but by 1980, literacy rates neared 100%” in urban areas (Corona 71).The Soviet Union put a very high priority on education, but there were drawbacks to Soviet controlled education. “Under the Soviets, all textbooks were controlled by the government, so they repeated the “party line” instead of giving a true account of history” (Rogers 94). Government control in educa...
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... government still owns and operates many clinics and hospitals, and such health facilities are often inefficient. Doctors and nurses are giving up their careers due to the fact that “…they can earn more money as cab drivers or store clerks” (Boehm 379). Improved insurance funding and wiser health care administration are among the many improvements required to reform health care in Russia.
Works Cited
Boehm, Richard, et al. Glencoe World Geography. Columbus, OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.
Corona, Laurel. The Russian Federation. San Diego: Lucent Books Inc., 2001. Print.
Glenn, Curtis, ed. Russia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress,
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Montaigne, Fen. “Russia Rising.” National Geographic Nov. 2001: 2-31. Print.
Rogers, Stillman. Russia Enchantment of the World. Canada: Children’s Press, 2002. Print.
This was, of course, only a humorous exaggeration, a case of political satire. Yet beneath the humor, there lies a very profound testament to the belief that Russia's political culture has been inherited from its czarist days and manifested throughout its subsequent development. The traditions from the pre-Revolution and pre-1921 Russia, it seems, had left its brand on the 70-years of Communist rule. The Soviet communism system was at once a foreign import from Germany and a Russian creation: "on the one hand it is international and a world phenomenon; on the other hand it is national and Russian…it was Russian history which determined its limits and shaped its character." (Berdyaev, "Origin")
Gender roles in Russia have dramatically changed since the fall of the former Soviet Union and the fall of communism. It is hard to look directly at the constitution of Russia seeing as though the drafting and redrafting of their constitution is still underway. However, looking at the constitution of the former Soviet Union, you can see it is clearly stated that: “Women and men have equal rights.” It is very clear that in the Soviet Union they were trying to make it so that women and men were equal. It is still clear today that those same basic ideals are present in Russia. Women are clearly more equal in their country than in ours. In the workforce as well as in the home, women play a more equal role than in the present day United States. However, for the sake of this paper, let us just look at the infrastructure of Russia, formerly known as the Soviet Union or USSR.
...lped educated the Russians. He even helped turn Russia from a Back ward agricultural state into the world's second greatest military and industrial power- Stalin modernized Russia.
Life in Russia during the early 1900’s was exceedingly repulsive, especially for the peasants, of which my ancestors presumably were. The conditions my ancestors lived in can be described as arduous, burdensome, poor, and unhygienic. The house of which peasants lived were cramped and lacked insulation. This made the peasants, moreover my ancestors, prone to diseases such as pneumonia, which was immensely lethal at the time. For those of the lowest social class...
The main challenge Alexander II faced in his projects towards modernization of Russia was a compromise between advancing his state thorough improving the lives of his subjects, without falling prey to the demand for further reforms he would be unable to satisfy. Westwood, revisiting Russian History in 1981 phrased the problem as follows: “how to advance the education of the state by educating the people, without educating the people to questions the state? ”.
Rule of Lenin vs the Tsar The beginning of the 20th century saw a great change in the political structure of the Russia. A country once led under an autocracy leadership. was suddenly changed into a communist state overnight. Dictatorship and communism are at separate ends of the political spectrum. This study so clearly shows both involve the oppression of society and a strict regime in which people are unable to voice their opinions.
Russia, a vast country with a wealth of natural resources, a well, educated population, and diverse industrial base, continues to experience, formidable difficulties in moving from its old centrally planned economy to a modern market economy. President Yeltsin's government has made substantial strides in converting to a market economy since launching its economic reform program in January 1992 by freeing nearly all prices, slashing defense spending, eliminating the old centralized distribution system, completing an ambitious voucher privatization program, establishing private financial institutions, and decentralizing trade. Russia, however, has made little progress in a number of key areas that are needed to provide a solid foundation for the transition to a market economy.
The peasants of Russia were known to not be so intelligent when it came to reading or writing, which was also considered to be upon the majority of the population. According to the magazine article, “Education, Literacy, and the Russian Revolution”, Megan Behrent speaks about how the Russian Revolution changed Russia’s society in a positive way. As she states, “Free and universal access to education was mandated for all children from the ages of three to sixteen years old, and the number of schools at least doubled within the first two years of the revolution” (Text 2 ). This quote explains how education was available for everyone, which helped those who were illiterate had had learning disabilities. Additionally, “A whole new educational system was created in which traditional education was thrown out and new, innovative techniques were implemented that emphasized self-activity, collectivism, and choice, and that drew on students’ prior experience, knowledge, and interaction with the real world” (Text 2). In this quote, Behrent explains how the education that was brought up by Stalin, lead to positive effects for Russia’s society. As a result, according to the text, the literacy rate of Russia dramatically increased and Stalin’s new education system was a success. Despite, this having an increased literacy rate did not mean that the Russian peasants had equal rights or weren’t
The Soviet Union, which was once a world superpower in the 19th century saw itself in chaos going into the 20th century. These chaoses were marked by the new ideas brought in by the new leaders who had emerged eventually into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union was crumbling at this period both politically and socially, as well as the economy. There were underlying reasons for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eventually Eastern Europe. The economy is the most significant aspect of every government. The soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1. fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government needs a strong economy to maintain its power and influence, but in this case the economic planning of the Soviet Union was just not working, which had an influence in other communist nations in Eastern Europe as they declined to collapse.
The cold war was failed by the Soviet Union for many reasons, including the sudden collapse of communism (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This sudden collapse of communism was brought on ultimately by internal factors. The soviet unions president Gorbachev’s reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (political reconstructering) ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Gorbachev’s basics for glasnost were the promotion of principles of freedom to criticize; the loosening of controls on media and publishing; and the freedom of worship. His essentials of perestroika were, a new legislature; creation of an executive presidency; ending of the ‘leading role’ of the communist party; allowing state enterprises to sell part of their product on the open market; lastly, allowing foreign companies to own Soviet enterprises (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev believed his reforms would benefit his country, but the Soviet Union was ultimately held together by the soviet tradition he was trying to change. The Soviet Union was none the less held together by “…powerful central institutions, pressure for ideological conformity, and the threat of force.
In the past centuries, health care was the responsibility of individuals and their own families but today Medicine comes to be an institution only as societies are more productive and people take on specialized work. At the same time as people become dependent on governments and organizations to provide them their health care and insurance, here is the problem. Social conflict analysis points out the connection between health and social inequality. Following the ideas of Karl Marx, we can match health to the operation of capitalism. Most attention has gone to three main issues: access to medical care, the effects of the profit motive, and the politics of medicine.
A. Soviet History. Marxists.org. 2010. Web. The Web. The Web.
Today, 46.9% of the employed population in Russia is made up of women. Most women in the work-force (85%) are in public health service. Women in the country are reduced to few jobs and forced to accept low wages. Women make up 74.2% of the unemployed
Exploring the October revolution and the establishment of communism, Richard Pipes concludes that the origin of communism can be traced back to the distant past in Russia’s history. Pipes states that Russia had entered a period of crisis after the governments of the 19th century undertook a limited attempt at capitalisation, not trying to change the underlying patrimonial structures of Russian society. (Pipes, 1964)
Even with Russia’s vast amount of land only, a small percentage can produce crops, as the rainfall is inconsistent and the northern tundra are not able to support growth. None the less fishing industry, livestock, and grain have been a staple for feeding the Russian people. Due to this family close, and extended have banded together to take care of each other on a larger scale. Another issue Russia faces is the rise of insurgency and could potentially destabilize the region, by Islamist. There is also the unrest and intervention in the Ukraine. Civil consideration