Almost twenty five years after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 80s and early 90s, a few countries emerged from the shadow of the former eastern bloc such as Estonia and Poland have quite successfully transformed themselves into modern democracies while others seemed to have simply failed to do so. The Russian Federation, the successor state of the Russian SFSR, is a particularly interesting case.
Despite the vigorous reforms and turbulence transition that happened during the Yeltsin-era Russia, many now believe that the old-fashioned communist system or the ‘power vertical’ rather has somehow reincarnated under the rule of Putin. From David Miliband calling Vladimir Putin a ‘ruthless dictator’ to Masha Gessen’s ‘The Dictator’ in the New York Times, I asked myself why they have chosen such vocabulary to describe the man. Is Putin really a dictator?
The word ‘dictator’, originated from Latin, is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘a ruler with total power over a country’. Nonetheless, is he really someone with ‘total power’ over the Mother Russia as reckoned by many in the West?
Born and raised in an ordinary working class family in Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg, young Putin had certainly given the impression of himself being a troublemaker. His childhood dream of becoming the type of glamorous Soviet spy that appeared in state propaganda movies had led Putin to join the KGB, an organisation that many believed had far-reaching influence on him than merely shaped his cynical attitude towards NGOs. In 1996, Putin made his first step into the Kremlin as the Chief of the Presidential Property Management Directorate. Unexpected for many yet hardly a surprise for few, within just four years, he became the presiden...
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...onsible for all the corruptions, frauds, and other crimes that he was blamed for. Given the influence of Russia on today’s integrated world where we see more collaborations and co-operations between countries, a better understanding of her leader not only gives us clues to why certain situation arises in Russia and beyond but also increases the chance of having more constructive dialogues. Not to mention that he came the first on Forbes’s list of ‘The world’s most powerful people’ in 2013. Even if you do not want to put up with him, I guess it is still worth remembering what Sun Tzu suggested in the Art of War: ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’
Works Cited
‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1771.Sun_Tzu
The Legacy of Russia and the Soviet Union - Authoritarian and Repressive Traditions that Refuse to Die
Joseph Stalin said, “Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don 't let our people have guns. Why should we let them have ideas?”. Stalin was a dictator of the USSR from 1929 to 1953. Under his dictatorship, the Soviet Union began to transform from a poor economy to an industrial and military based one. While still a teen, Stalin secretly read Karl Marx 's book the “Communist Manifesto”, and became more interested in his teachings. When Stalin gained power, he ruled his nations using terror and fear, eliminating those who did not comply with his governance.
According to Medvedev, Joseph Stalin’s leadership style was one that was molded from his need to control the situation and paranoia. Stalin did rely on his close network of political allies to effectively rule, but decisions that could affect the U.S.S.R must be authorized by him and no other person. (Medvedev 115) This made party members very nervous and also very repla...
... ruler and has helped shape Russia into what it now is today. Ivan also realized he could not trust his family to hold power, so he started passing it down to those who. This is a major incluence because looking at the government of the United States, one will notice that Obama does not pass his power to his children. The power is passed down to the next . This rule helped to reform, modernize, and centralize the country.
Insightfulness is a key trait of President Putin. His understanding of the neoconservative foreign policy of the United States has led him to the conclusion that watching another legitimate government fall at the hands of CIA backed terrorists is a crime which must be
“We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the other facing what we do to the enemy” (Boyden 199).
Both the United States and Russia gained new leaders around the turn of the century: George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. While relations began on a rocky note, with foreign diplomats being expelled in both countries, Bush did not force reform onto the Russia. He instead focused on developing United States security interests, specifically involving terrorism following “9/11.” This developed an all take, no give relationship with the United States reaping all the benefits. Shevtsova states “It took Russia for granted...
Before the word for the usual brutality of a leader came about, called Communism, Ivan IV was born on August 25,1530. His abnormal behavior started to show after the death of his parents; both deaths occured before he hit the early age of 9. Ivan bore witness to a lot of horrible things like murder and beatings of people who didn't comply to the Boyars requests. He was molested along with his deaf-mute brother, Yuri. Ivan took out his anger on animals by "ripping hair and feathers off, piercing the eyes, and slitting open their bodies. When he became ruler, he sent 100,000 troops to beseige the Tartar and not too long later he launches an attack on Novgorod. His Oprichniki rode around wearing black and on black horses abducting priests and even murdering them in front of their congregation. He turned on his daughter-in-law and attacked her because she was "immodestly dressed" and caused her to miscarry her baby. When his son stood up to protect her, Ivan killed him. His son was the heir to the throne and now Ivan didn't have an heir. Finally his reign of terror ended when he had a heart a attack while waiting to play chess.
Vladimir Putin has been a successful Russian leader because of his economic policies. After Putin took power, the economy grew an average of 7% per year, with the GDP going up 75%(Novosti). This means that Russia was able to overcome the affects of the economic crisis of the 1990s, proving that Putin was successful. “Russia has become an energy superpower under the rule of Putin. This is due to a policy in which the government controls a substantial part of the oil and gas sector” (Novosti). This shows that Putin was a successful leader because he helped the Russian economy to triumph enough to allow Russia to become a superpower. Russia has also been able to manage many oil revenues under the reign of Putin. He even established the Stabilization Fund in 2004 (Novosti). This proves that Putin was successful in his economic policies because profits from the fund helped to pay off the debt of the Soviet Union. Although it seems that Putin helped the Russian economy, the rate of inflation rose and is continuing to rise during his reign (Boesler). When the rate of inflation increases, more people begin to go hungry and even starve to death when they ant buy food. If Putin is allowing the food prices to go up, he should not be considered a su...
Putin was born in Russia in 1952. Throughout his life, he has been involved with politics. He has been a Russian intelligence
everyday worries, along with a impassive dictator who could have cared less about the Russian
The Russian’s were wrong in having hope for a reformed government. Following the careless Czar came Lenin and Stalin, both continuing the reign of terror that the Czar had left behind. Instead of a Czarist gover...
"From Autocracy to Oligarchy." The Structure of Soviet History: Essays and Documents. Ed. Ronald Grigor. Suny. New York: Oxford UP, 2003. 340-50. Print.
Navalny, Alexey A. 2014. How to Punish Putin. NY : The New York Times, 2014.
Were Lenin alive today, he could stand up and truthfully say, “Without me, a nation would not exist.'; He singularly shaped the course of history. Russia was floundering, and Lenin was the totally committed visionary that it took to bring it back from the brink. He laid them foundation for what eventually became a world superpower, and had he lived longer, Russia could have been even stronger. It is no wonder Lenin became a Russian national hero.