The definition of a “Democracy” is “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free election” (Merriam-Webster, 2018). Russia’s democracy is that of a failed one. It has continuously failed since the fall of communism. The most problematic cause of this is corruption. This issue is a problem in its police system, governmental agencies and branches, and its leaders, like Vladimir Putin. These entities of Russia’s government allows the leaders of the country to have the ability to gain unbelievable amounts of power, embezzle money and pay people with power and resources, as well as hurt their population. For the population, 13.3% percent of the population is below the poverty line, while being the 7th rated in GDP in the world (World Factbook, 2018). These are just a few facts about Russia’s failing democracy. The 3 main points to show how corruption has made Russia into the failing democracy is the widespread corruption throughout the government, the usage of the FSB and the judicial system to eliminate political opponents, as well as the power the 1993 Russian Constitution gave leaders of Russia, more specifically Vladimir Putin, as well as his
The widespread of corruption throughout the government in the executive branch and the bureaucrats show the failing state of Democracy in Russia. Putin and the rest of the Russian government have shown in multiple instances where the result is that of corruption. In December of 2012, Vladimir Putin ordered RIA Novosti, Russia’s international news agency, to shut down and give “Russia Today”, which is run by Russia’s government, all of its assets, as well as other media stations, were bought by businessmen close to Putin (Orttung, 2014, 2). This is a clear sign of corruption because the media is what gives people a voice and allows them to know the opposition as well. Without the media, democracy is dead because it causes the people lose that ability to know the truth and continuously believe that the governmental media. Another way besides making laws or giving orders is that of bribes. Many bureaucrats in Russia wager things such as business licenses and other public sector permits. Even Putin, when he was in his first term of presidency, tried, to put an end to bribes in the bureaucracy, but ultimately failed. In 2002, INDEM, a Moscow foundation, found that businesses in Moscow pay around 230 billion rubles, or $362,594,080.00 U.S. dollars, to Russian bureaucrats to pay bribes (Man, 2009, 6). This is a clear use of corruption in Russia, that is not actually Putin. The ability to force the citizens of Russia to pay government employees to get things that are free in a regular democracy. The widespread of corruption in a clear reason why Russia is a failing democracy because it creates a place where the people in the government can abuse the system while the regular citizens are the ones to pay.
The ability for Putin and the political elite to use the FSB and the courts to take out political opposition is a clear showing of corruption, as well as a sign of a failing democracy. The use of the FSB and courts are mainly used for corrupt purposes by Vladimir Putin as well as his politically elite allies. There are multiple alleged stories about FSB, also known as the KGB during the Cold War era, being used to take out political opposition. An example is that of Vladimir Kara-Murza, he is the Vice Chairman of an opposition foundation called “Open Russia” that supports the building up of a civil society in Russia. Kara-Murza has been poisoned twice, one in May 2015 and again in February 2017 which he claims is the FSB, only for him not to die and continue his opposition to Putin (Committee on Foreign Relations, 2018, 12). Another instance is Russian involvement in Ukraine’s protests against Viktor Yanukovych. Ukrainian activists claimed they noticed a large number of FSB agents at the protests helping the Berkut, Ukraine’s governmental security force (Stratford, 2015, 15). The use of the FSB by Putin in these situations is showing his power, as well as threatening people who oppose him. The courts as well carried commit corruption, with things such as a “telephone justice.” These telephone justices can be described by Alena Ledeneva (2008) as justices who take a command, signal, or request to make that command become a reality. A real case of this that of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oligarch himself, was found guilty of creating a group that wanted to gain control of Russian company stocks; Justice Valery Zorkin, the head judge of the case, found him guilty because the Kremlin did (Ledeneva, 2013, 331). These clear violations of law by Putin show blatantly that the country is a failing democracy, the fact of being able to be found guilty of only a phone call makes that clear. With both of these, it shows that the ability to get rid of political opponents and problematic problems with corruption shows the apparent lack of democracy in Putin’s Russia.
On December 12, 1993, The Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted after a national referendum. With this new constitution, it abolished the previous constitution of Soviet-era of Russia’s history. The main point I will be making over the constitution is the powers it gave to the President, and how Vladimir Putin has used it to advantage. The new constitution is largely written about the President and his new powers, as well as forming a democracy, human rights and other policies such as those. The new Presidential powers, including but not limited to being the head of state, head of domestic and foreign policy, Supreme Commander-in-Chief, appoint judges, submit bills to the State Duma, reject bills from the State Duma, issue decrees, and can dissolve the State Duma before its term ends (Russian Federation, 1993). This constitution was modeled after the U.S Constitution when it comes to the powers of the president. With this, it only allows the Russian President powers to govern as much as U.S President, but Russia’s President Vladimir Putin seems to have much more power in Russia than our president has in America. Putin has created a failing democracy even though Russia’s constitution clearly presents the ideas and seeds of a democracy, this is because of the corruption within Russia. Putin and the elite oligarchs he aligns himself with created a Russia that is Putin first with only him and his image. While doing this, Putin has also managed to
With all of this, Russia’s intended democracy has turned into a failing democracy, with many causes of this but mainly the prevalence of corruption. He has complete power in Russia and that is because he controls the media, the courts, and the FSB. All three of these cause Putin’s Russia to be a failing democracy. The media has no independent freedom and can not allow oppositions to even compete politically with Putin, causing little freedom within a failing democracy. “Telephone justices,” as well as other forms of corruption, causes the whole judicial system to be undermined allowing for Putin and other rich, powerful oligarchs to control the outcomes and punish an opponent while coming out unscathed. The FBS, KGB in disguise, can take out any of Putin’s opposition with little to no evidence, allowing the entire population to be held hostage by the FSB. Through his use of corruption and power consolidation, Vladimir Putin has created a failed democracy in Russia that has cast a shadow over his nation allowing to gain almost absolute power.