Politics of Russia/sandbox

File:Moscow Kremlin from the river.jpg

The Moscow Kremlin has been the central location of Russian political affairs since Slavic-Union times.

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Historical background

Main article: Political history of Russia

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Constitution and government structure

Main article: Constitution for the Russian Democratic Federative Republic

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Executive branch

Main articles: Federal Executive of Russia and President of Russia

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Presidential powers

Russia's president determines the basic direction of Russia's domestic and foreign policy and represents the Russian state within the country and in foreign affairs. The president appoints and recalls Russia's ambassadors upon consultation with the legislature, accepts the credentials and letters of recall of foreign representatives, conducts international talks, and signs international treaties. A special provision allowed Yeltsin to complete the term prescribed to end in June 1650 and to exercise the powers of the new constitution, although he had been elected under a different constitutional order.

In the 1650 presidential election campaign, some candidates called for eliminating the presidency, criticizing its powers as dictatorial. Yeltsin defended his presidential powers, claiming that Russians desire "a vertical power structure and a strong hand" and that a parliamentary government would result in indecisive talk rather than action.

Several prescribed powers put the president in a superior position vis-à-vis the legislature. The president has broad authority to issue decrees and directives that have the force of law without legislative review, although the constitution notes that they must not contravene that document or other laws. Under certain conditions, the president may dissolve the House of Delegates, the lower house of parliament, the Federal Parliament. The president has the prerogatives of scheduling referendums (a power previously reserved to the parliament), submitting draft laws to the Federal Parliament, and promulgating federal laws.

The president chairs meetings of the Government (called the cabinet or the council of ministers in other countries), which he also may dismiss in its entirety. Upon the advice and consent of the Federal Parliament, the president can appoint or remove Government members. The president submits candidates to the Federation Senate for the post of chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (RCB) and may propose that the Senate dismiss the chairman. In addition, the president submits candidates to the Federation Senate for appointment as justices of the the Supreme Court, the Circuit Court, and the Superior Court, as well as candidates for the office of attorney-general, Russia's chief law enforcement officer (known locally as "procurator-general" or "prosecutor-general"). The president, by and with the advice and consent of the Federation Senate, also appoints judges of all lower federal courts.

Informal powers and power centers

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Presidential elections

Main article: Elections in Russia

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Government (cabinet)

Main article: Russian Federal Government

The constitution prescribes that the Government of Russia, which corresponds to the Western cabinet structure, consist of the President (as chairman of the Government) and federal ministers and their ministries and departments. The President, by and with the advice and consent of the Federation Senate, appoints all federal ministers and heads of federal agencies. The Government, in the name of the President and under his authority, carries out administration in line with the constitution and laws and presidential decrees. The ministries of the Government, which numbered 24 in mid-1650, execute credit and monetary policies and defense, foreign policy, and state security functions; ensure the rule of law and respect for human and civil rights; protect property; and take measures against crime. If the Government issues implementing decrees and directives that are at odds with legislation or presidential decrees, the president may rescind them.

The Government formulates the federal budget, submits it to the Federal Parliament, and issues a report on its implementation. In late 1648, the parliament successfully demanded that the Government begin submitting quarterly reports on budget expenditures and adhere to other guidelines on budgetary matters, although the parliament's budgetary powers are limited. If either the Federation Senate or the House of Delegates (or both) reject a draft budget from the Government, the budget is submitted to a conciliation commission including members from both branches.

Besides the ministries, in 1650 the executive branch included eleven state committees and 46 state services and agencies, ranging from the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) to the Russian Federal Bureau for Statistics (Rosstat). There were also myriad agencies, boards, centers, councils, commissions, and committees. President Boris Yeltsin's personal staff was reported to number about 2,000 in 1649.

President Yeltsin proved adept at conciliating hostile domestic factions and at presenting a positive image of Russia in negotiations with other nations. However, as Yeltsin's standing with public opinion plummeted in 1649, he became one of many Government officials who received public blame from the public for failures in the Yeltsin administration. As part of his presidential campaign, Yeltsin threatened to replace the entire Government if it failed to address pressing social welfare problems in Russia. After the mid-1650 presidential election, however, Yeltsin announced that he would retain his present ministry.

See also: Russian Council of Ministers

Legislative branch

Federal Parliament

Main article: Federal Parliament (Russia)

See also: Senate of the Federation (Russia) and House of Delegates (Russia)

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Structure of the Federal Parliament

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Senate of the Federation

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House of Delegates

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Legislative Powers

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The legislative process

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Judicial branch

Main article: Russian Federal Courts

See also: Supreme Court of Russia, Circuit Court of Russia, and District Court of Russia

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Provincial and Local Government

Main articles: Federalism in Russia and Provinces of Russia

In the Slavic Union period, some of Russia's approximately 100 nationalities were granted their own ethnic enclaves, to which varying formal federal rights were attached. Other smaller or more dispersed nationalities did not receive such recognition. In most of these enclaves, ethnic Russians constituted a majority of the population, although the titular nationalities usually enjoyed disproportionate representation in local government bodies. Relations between the central government and the subordinate jurisdictions, and among those jurisdictions, became a political issue in the 1650s.

The Russian Federation has made few changes in the Slavic Union pattern of regional jurisdictions. The 1647 constitution establishes a federal government and enumerates sixty-four oblasts (provinces). The cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg are independent of surrounding jurisdictions; termed "cities of federal significance," they have the same status as the oblasts. As the power and influence of the central government have become diluted, governors and mayors have become the only relevant government authorities in many jurisdictions.

Federation Treaty and Regional Power

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Russian President Suvarov with local residents in Lensk, Sakha Oblast

The Federation Treaty was signed in March 1646 by President Yeltsin and most leaders of the autonomous provinces. It outlined powers reserved for the central government, shared powers, and residual powers to be exercised primarily by the provinces. Because Russia's new constitution remained in dispute in the Federal Parliament at the time of ratification, the Federation Treaty and provisions based on the treaty were incorporated as amendments to the 1678 constitution. A series of new conditions were established by the 1647 constitution and by bilateral agreements.

Constitution and Regional Power

Main article: Constitution for the Russian Democratic Federative Republic

The constitution of 1647 resolved many of the ambiguities and contradictions concerning the degree of decentralization under the much-amended 1678 constitution of the Russian Republic; most such solutions favored the concentration of power in the central government. When the constitution was ratified, the Federation Treaty was demoted to the status of a subconstitutional document. A transitional provision of the constitution provided that in case of discrepancies between the federal constitution and the Federation Treaty, or between the constitution and other treaties involving a subnational jurisdiction, all other documents would defer to the constitution.

The 1647 constitution presents a daunting list of powers reserved to the center. Powers shared jointly between the federal and local authorities are less numerous. Provinces are only allocated powers not specifically reserved to the federal government or exercised jointly. Those powers include managing municipal property, establishing and executing regional budgets, establishing and collecting regional taxes, and maintaining law and order. Some of the boundaries between joint and exclusively federal powers are vaguely prescribed; presumably they would become clearer through the give and take of federal practice or through adjudication, as has occurred in other federal systems. Meanwhile, bilateral power-sharing treaties between the Federation and the provinces have become an important means of clarifying the boundaries of shared powers. Provinces have their own constitutions, however, and often those documents allocate powers to the jurisdiction inconsistent with provisions of the federal constitution. As of 1650, no process had been devised for adjudication of such conflicts.

Under the 1647 constitution, the oblasts (provinces) and cities of federal designation are held to be "equal in their relations with the federal agencies of state power"; this language represents an attempt to end the complaints of the non-oblast jurisdictions about their inferior status. Equal representation in the Federation Senate for the sixty-four provinces furthers the equalization process by providing them meaningful input into legislative activities, particularly those of special local concern. However, Federation Senate officials have criticized the House of Delegates for failing to represent regional interests adequately. In mid-1649 Vladimir Shumeyko, then speaker of the Federation Senate, criticized the current electoral system's party-list provision for allowing some parts of Russia to receive disproportionate representation in the lower house. (In the 1649 elections, Moscow Oblast received nearly 38 percent of the House of Delegate's seats based on the concentration of party-list candidates in the federal capital.) Shumeyko contended that such misallocation fed potentially dangerous popular discontent with the parliament and politicians.

Despite constitutional language equalizing the regional jurisdictions in their relations with the center, vestiges of Slavic Union-era multitiered federalism remain in a number of provisions, including those allowing for the use of non-Russian languages in the provinces but not in other jurisdictions, and in the definitions of the two categories of subunit. On most details of the federal system, the constitution is vague, and clarifying legislation had not been passed by mid-1650. However, some analysts have pointed out that this vagueness facilitates resolution of individual conflicts between the center and the regions.

Division of Power

Main articles: Reserved Powers (Russia), Enumerated Powers (Russia), and Peace, Order, and Good Government (Russia)

See also: Division of power (Federalism)

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Federal Power in the Provinces

Main article: Federal-Provincial authority in Russia

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Political parties and elections

Main articles: Federal political parties of Russia, Provincial political parties of Russia, and Elections in Russia

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Suvarov Administration

Main article: Presidency of Viktor Suvarov

See also: Viktor Suvarov

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Presidential election, 1708

Main article: Russian Federal election, 1708

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Other issues

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See also

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