Random
"Openness"—loosening censorship and allowing public debate.
Glasnost
The first President of the Russian Federation. He presided over the collapse of the USSR and the chaotic transition to a market economy.
Boris Yeltsin
The lower house of the legislature. It passes legislation and confirms the PM, but is currently dominated by United Russia.
Duma
The broader effort to privatize industry and reduce state price controls.
Market reform
The "Party of Power." It is not ideological but exists solely to support Vladimir Putin.
United Russia
A long-standing separatist struggle in a Muslim-majority region of the Caucasus. Two wars were fought there, resulting in the current (and brutal) pro-Kremlin leadership of Ramzan Kadyrov.
Conflicts in Chechnya
Putin’s "placeholder" President (2008–2012) who allowed Putin to bypass term limits before becoming PM.
Dmitri Medvedev
The upper house, representing Russia’s 89 regions. It has less power than the Duma and focuses on issues like borders and treaties.
Federation Council
Extremely wealthy businessmen who gained control of state assets in the 1990s and exerted significant political influence.
Oligarchs
A system where elections take place but citizens are cut off from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise real power because of the lack of civil liberties.
Illiberal democracy
A region of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014, a move that boosted Putin’s domestic popularity but led to international sanctions.
Crimea
President (and former PM) who has centralized power, suppressed dissent, and shifted Russia toward an authoritarian model.
Vladimir Putin
Designed for judicial review; however, in practice, it rarely challenges the President’s authority.
Constitutional Court
"Men of force"—individuals from the security and military services (like the FSB) who Putin brought into high-ranking government and economic positions.
Siloviki
A "loyal opposition" party created by the Kremlin to provide the illusion of competition; it generally supports Putin's agenda.
A Just Russia
The policy (mostly under Stalin) of forcing peasants onto large state-run farms, ending private land ownership.
Collectivization
The leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Vladimir Lenin
A system where there is both a President (Head of State) and a Prime Minister (Head of Government)
Semi-presidential (or presidential-parliamentary)
A system where the state determines which interest groups (labor, business) have a seat at the table, effectively co-opting them.
State corporatism
A key pillar of Putin’s "traditional values" platform, used to bolster national identity and legitimacy.
Russian Orthodox Church
The system of patronage where the Communist Party maintained a list of reliable people for all important jobs in the state, economy, and media.
Nomenklatura
The final Soviet leader who attempted to save the USSR through three main reforms.
Mikhail Gorbachev
The Constitution that created the current Russian government.
1993
A system where power is maintained through personal favors and loyalty rather than formal rules
Patron-client system
When the state uses the legal system as a tool to target political opponents.
Rule by law