Authoritarian LeadershipEssay Preview: Authoritarian LeadershipReport this essayTo begin this discussion, let us first define the key terms needed. Authoritarian is a “type of government which the ruler demand unquestioning obedience from its people” that they govern.(Macmillan 30). In other words, the people who are being ruled, have no choice but to be obedient to their leader even if they do not agree with him or her. While democracy can be defined in Greek as “rule by the people.” In other words, it is based on the peoples votes, where the majority votes wins, whereas, if an election is to be held, with regards to a decision, for example capital punishment, if majority of the voters agree to it, then capital punishment will take effect as a means of punishing criminals.
Usually, the Executive which is said to reflect a semi-presidential system, has two main roles where the president is elected directly by the people and the Prime Minister appointed by the president. This is evident in post-communist Russia, when President Putin was elected by the people in adult suffrage elections. This system creates “a certain amount of tension between the president and the prime minister, especially if they do not share the same political party or the same political ideas.” (Munroe 91). This is evident when Voloshin resigned while Yeltsin was in power and was later reappointed by Putin after Yeltsin had resigned.
Post communist Russia is deemed as being more authoritarian than democratic as its governmental style has more characteristics of that of authoritarian, where its president has more power than other official posts in its society. The structure of the Post communist Russia differs significantly from that of the former soviet union. It has been characterized by a power struggle between the executive and the legislature branches, primarily over issues of constitutional authority and the pace and direction of democratic and economic reform. Conflicts started in September 2003, when President Yeltsin dissolved the Russian parliament (the Congress of People Deputies and the Supreme Soviet). Parliamentary members and their colleagues revolted and were overthrown only through military intervention.
According to Munroe, the “executive in most post-communist states reflects a semi presidential system, perhaps most similar in the Western world to France.”
In December 1993 a new constitution put forward by Yeltsin was approved in a nationwide referendum, and representatives were elected to a new legislature. Because of
the presidential constitution, it gives extensive powers to the president. The executivebranch dominates the legislative and judicial branches, and both presidents have exercised wide ranging powers over all threes branches. They have usually used as their main instrument the Presidential Administration. This is a complicated organization that aims through complex methods of political and financial influence to ensure that the
“cabinet of ministers prepares the draft legislation desired by the president, the parliament then adopts this legislation without introducing changes undesirable to the president, the court system renders judgments in cases where the president has an interest in the outcome that accord with his wishes.” (Brittanica.com)
In addition, the Presidential Administration plays a key role in controlling and censoring the media, especially the national television channels, in trying to ensure that the presidents will and policies are implemented in Russias eighty-nine federal regions, and in controlling as far as possible Russias nascent civil society. It also interferes in the business world, indirectly mediating major disputes, indirectly granting favours to some companies and penalizing others. At the same time, it and the Cabinet of Ministers interact with business regularly on the political level. In this way , business has exerted a major influence on government policy, more blatantly in Yeltsin tenure, less blatantly, but still substantially under Putin.
In February 2011, the Council of the Russian Federation (CRC) held a meeting (p.12) chaired by the Director General of Russia for External Affairs, Vladimir Kurskovsky. The Committee also held the gathering of top officials of two other CRC-designated Federal Bureau of the Interior and Regional Planning. It was directed that it take up this task in coordination with the CIS, Russia’s second-largest national organization of the public media. The meeting was held in Moscow by the CRC chairperson, Dmitry Ceblushkin.
The Council of the Russian Federation (CRC)
The CRC is a body of CRC-designated foreign-government agencies that, according to the Russian Constitution, should not be governed by any government. However, the Russian Federal Senate is able to pass legislation or to grant contracts that may be used for the use of foreign government agencies. Under the Russian Constitution, a CRC has the power to:
· ban the use of any foreign government-designated foreign agency.
· designate foreign-government agencies which should not be controlled by foreign Government or the Russian Government.
In 2013, a new President, Dmitry Medvedev, also proposed reestablishment the CRC and replacing its directors with those appointed by the President.
In early October, Putin announced the completion of Russia’s permanent and permanent parliament as a direct legislative assembly, as proposed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev [4]. Although a large majority of CRC deputies have supported the proposed proposal, only 17 percent supported lifting the current ban – the fifth-most votes for a parliamentary assembly in the former Soviet Union. The move has been widely discussed in the media and among government officials. However, many of them are now aware that the lifting of the ban on foreign agencies may be far-reaching and that they consider it necessary.
Crisis of legitimacy: The CRC is a body of CRC-designated foreign-government agencies that have been under international law since the 1920s. The CRC began in 1983 by holding the Council of the Russian Federation, which was established to protect national sovereignty, as well as in the service of the CRC interests. The CRC’s most important function is one of ensuring that foreign entities (such as foreign embassies and foreign business entities) are not allowed access to the CRC. While many foreign institutions have legal residence in the CRC, the CRC does not possess the legal sanction or power to grant or prohibit residency to foreign entities (as permitted by the 1987 Law of the International Criminal Court’s ruling on “tolerance and co-operation” and in accordance with UN law).
Since the 1980s, the CRC has been subject to various governmental initiatives, such as the Council of the Russian Federation’s (RCANF) national constitutional reform, which is based on an international treaty and is signed every three years. However, the CRC has not yet experienced the
The new constitution provides for welfare protection, access to social security, pensions, free health care, and affordable housing. At the same time, it considerably reduced the status of the regions and made all regions subject to central authorities. In 2000, the Russian central government assigned each of the countrys provinces and autonomous republics, regions and districts to one of seven new federal districts. These districts were intended to enable the central government to control and monitor these constituent units , and they confirmed the supremacy of the central government over the regions.
Given the multiplicity of important roles, it is not surprising that the head of the presidential administration and the president are usually regarded as the two most powerful figures in Russias government. This was especially during the four and a half years from March 1999, when Yeltsin appointed Alexander Voloshin to the head of the Presidential Administration, and October 2003, when Voloshin resigned from that position. He was reappointed by Putin after Yeltsin resigned in December 1999, and provided continuity from one presidency to the next.
If I am wrong in agreeing that post communist Russia is more authoritarian than democratic, then I may agree that it has an indirect democracy characteristics, where the people play a limited role in making decisions, such as in the passing of laws, between elections. Between elections the politicians rule, not in any supreme sense because