What political system does the russian federation represent

Political system of Russia

The Russian Federation is a Presidential (or a constitutional) republic. The President is the head of the state and is elected directly by the people. In fact he has much power, he controls all the three branches of power: legislative, executive and juridical. The President can even dissolve the Duma. The President has his administration, but it’s not part of the Federal Government. The President is involved in the work of the legislative and executive branches.

The Federal Assembly represents the Legislative branch of power. It’s made up of the two houses: the Federation Counsel and the State Duma, which makes laws. The Federal Assembly is also called the Parliament, but it’s not its official name. Both chambers are headed by chairmen sometimes called speakers. The Duma consists of 450 deputies (one half is elected personally by the population, and the other half consists of the deputies who are appointed by their parties after voting). There are 94 500 constituencies in Russian Federation.

The members of the Federation Counsel are elected on a different basis. There are two representatives of each subject of the RF (89 subjects). Every law to be adopted must be approved by the State Duma, the Counsel of Federation and signed by the President. The President can veto laws passed by the Federal Assembly, but if two-thirds of the Federal Assembly members supports a law it can be passed over the President’s veto.

The Federal Government represents the executive branch of power. The President appoints its head, the Chainman of the Government, but the Duma must approve his appointment.

The juridical branch of power consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and lower Courts. The responsibility of the Constitutional Court is to analyse the new laws to make sure they correspond to the laws of the state. The Constitutional Court has the right to declare actions of the President, the Federal Assembly and the Federal Government unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is the highest instance for civil and criminal cases.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official name of the country which consists of four main parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is situated to the north-west of the continent of Europe on 5500 islands. The largest islands are Great Britain and Ireland. The area of the country is about 244,100 square kilometers. The United Kingdom is washed by the Atlantic Ocean on the north-west and the North Sea on the East. It is separated from Europe by the English Channel (or La Manche) and the Straight of Dover (or Pas de Calais). No part of Great Britain lies more than one hundred miles from the coast. The main ports are London, Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth, Dover, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.

Climate

Great Britain has a very good geographical position. The Gulf Stream gives Britain a temperate climate. It is mild and damp: summers are not very hot and winters are not very cold. All over the world Britain is famous for its fogs. In old times when people used to heat their houses with coal the smoke from their fire places mixed with fog and formed so-called smog. An unusually thick smog in London in 1962 caused the death of more than 4, 000 people.

Geography

Geographically the island of Great Britain is subdivided into 2 main regions: Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. There are no high mountains in Great Britain. The highest mountain – Ben Nevis – is in Scotland. It is 1343 meters high. There are many rivers in Great Britain but they are not very long. The longest river is the Severn, the deepest and the most important river is the Thames.

Basic facts about Russia: Political system

Russia is a federal presidential republic

The executive power is split between the President and the Prime Minister, but the President is the dominant figure. The legislature is represented by the Federal Assembly of Russia. It has two chambers: the State Duma – the lower house, and the Federation Council – the upper house. The judicial power is vested in courts and administered by the Ministry of Justice.

The President is the head of state and is elected by popular vote every six years for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The original constitution had four-year presidential terms, but this was amended to six years by parliament late in 2008. The new rules will not apply to the current administration and will come into effect only after the next election, due in 2012. The President’s working residence is in the Moscow Kremlin. The President determines the basic domestic and foreign policy, is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, can veto legislative bills, resolves issues of citizenship of the Russian Federation, awards state decorations and grants pardons.

Government duties are split between a number of ministries, some of which, in turn, have federal services and federal agencies answerable to them. The head of government, the prime minister, is appointed by the president and confirmed by the State Duma. The government is housed in the so-called White House in Moscow. The government ensures the implementation of domestic and foreign policy, works out the federal budget, oversees the implementation of financial and monetary policy, ensures the rule of law, human rights and freedoms.

The bicameral Federal Assembly makes federal law, approves treaties, declares war and has the power of the purse. Both its chambers are located in Moscow.

The Federation Council

The Federation Council of Russia is the upper house of the Russian Parliament. Created by the 1993 constitution, it was to act as a voice of Russia’s federated entities. The Council has explicitly stated that no political factions are to exist in the upper house.

Unlike the State Duma, the Council isn’t directly elected. It consists of representatives of Russia’s federal entities – each has two. One is elected by the entity’s legislature; the other is nominated by the entity’s head. The terms of the members aren’t nationally fixed, but depend on the terms of the regional bodies that chose them.

The Council works with the lower chamber to complete and vote on draft laws. But the Federation Council also has special powers of its own, including the declaration of a presidential election, impeachment of the President and decisions on the use of the armed forces outside Russia’s territory.

The State Duma is the lower house of the Russian Parliament. The 450 deputies are elected for terms of five years following constitutional amendments agreed by parliament late in 2008. However, the original term of four years will apply to the current Duma, as the new rules do not come into effect until after the next election. Any Russian citizen over the age of 21 is eligible to run. Half the seats used to be filled through proportional representation and the other half through single seat constituencies. Now the system has changed.

The 2007 parliamentary election used a new format whereby all deputies were elected from party-lists through proportional representation.

The term Duma comes from the Russian “dumat” (“to think”). Compared to some European democracies, the Russian Duma is quite a youngster. Founded in 1906, it didn’t survive the 1917 revolution. But it bounced back in 1993, when Russia’s first President, Boris Yeltsin, introduced a new constitution.

All bills, even those proposed by the Federation Council, must first be considered by the State Duma. Once a bill is passed by a majority in the Duma, a draft law is sent back to the Federation Council. If the Council rejects it, the two chambers may form a commission to work out a compromise.

Three types of court make up the Russian judiciary:

The municipal court is the lowest adjudicating body in the general court system. It serves each city or rural district and hears more than 90 per cent of all civil and criminal cases. The next level of courts of general jurisdiction is the regional courts. At the highest level is the Supreme Court. Decisions of the lower trial courts can generally be appealed only to the immediately superior court.

Arbitration courts are in practice specialised courts which resolve property and commercial disputes between economic agents. The highest level of court resolving economic disputes is the High Court of Arbitration.

The Constitutional Court is empowered to rule on whether or not laws or presidential decrees are constitutional. If it finds that a law is unconstitutional, the law becomes unenforceable and governmental agencies are barred from implementing it. The judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Higher Arbitration Court are appointed by the parliament’s upper house, the Federation Council.

Legal disclaimer Feedback Contact us © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2021. All rights reserved.

Топик «Политическая система Российской Федерации» (Political system of Russia)

Russia is a federal semi-presidential state. It has a republican form of government and a centralized political system. The power is divided among the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

The executive power is concentrated in the President and the Prime Minister, although the President is dominant as the head of the state. The President of Russia is elected by the people for a term of 6 years for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The President is the chairman of his consultative bodies: the State Council and the Security Council and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The President determines basic domestic and foreign policies of the Russian Federation and he can veto draft bills. He is also vested with power to dismiss the government.

The Prime Minister is appointed as the head of the government by the President, with the State Duma’s approval. Government duties are distributed between several ministries. The government ensures realization of domestic and foreign policies, works out the federal budget, provides the principles of law, human rights and freedoms.

The legislature in Russia is represented by the bicameral Federal Assembly. It consists of the State Duma (the lower house) and the Federation Council (the upper house). The Federal Assembly makes federal law, approves treaties and declares war. All bills must be first considered by the State Duma. Once a bill has been passed by a majority of the Duma, it is sent back to the Federation Council. The Federation Council has such special powers as declaration of presidential elections, the President’s impeachment and decisions on the use of the armed forces outside Russia’s territory.

The judicial power in Russia is exercised by the courts and administered by the Ministry of Justice. The Supreme Court of Russia is at the highest level. The judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the High Arbitration Court are appointed by the Federation Council.

The Russian political system is multiparty. The party with its majority in the parliament can form the Russian government.

Россия является федеральным полупрезидентским государством. Она имеет республиканскую форму правления и централизованную политическую систему. Власть разделена на законодательную, исполнительную и судебную ветви.

Исполнительная власть концентрируется на президенте и премьер-министре, хотя президент доминирует как глава государства. Президент России избирается народом на шестилетний срок максимум на два последовательных срока. Президент является председателем совещательных органов: Государственного Совета и Совета Безопасности, а также главнокомандующим вооруженных сил. Президент определяет основную внутреннюю и внешнюю политики РФ, и он вправе наложить вето на законопроекты. Он также наделен властью распускать правительство.

Президент назначает премьер-министра главой правительства, после одобрения в Государственной Думе. Правительственные обязанности распределяются между несколькими министерствами. Правительство обеспечивает выполнение внутренней и внешней политики, разрабатывает федеральный бюджет, обеспечивает правовые нормы, права человека и его свободы.

Законодательство в России представляет двухпалатное Федеральное собрание. Оно состоит из Госдумы (низшей палаты) и Совета Федерации (верховной палаты). Федеральное собрание издает федеральные законы, утверждает договоры и объявляет войну. Все законы должны быть первоначально рассмотрены Госдумой. Как только законопроект принят большинством в Думе, его отсылают обратно в Совет Федерации. Совет Федерации имеет такие особые полномочия, как декларация президентских выборов, импичмент президента и принятие решений по применению вооруженных сил за пределами российской территории.

Судебная власть в России осуществляется при помощи судов и управляется Министерством юстиции. Верховный суд России находится на высшем уровне. Судьи Конституционного суда, Верховного суда и Высшего арбитражного суда назначаются Советом Федерации.

Российская политическая система является многопартийной. Партия с парламентским большинством может формировать российское правительство.

The Russian Federation is a Presidential (or a constitutional) republic. The President is the head of the state and is elected directly by the people. In fact he has much power, he controls all the three branches of power. The President can even dissolve the Duma if he doesn’t agree with his suggestions three times running. The President has his administration, but it’s not part of the Federal Government. The President is involved in the work of the legislative and executive branches.

The Federal Assembly represents the Legislative branch of power. It’s made up of the two houses: the Federation Counsil and the State Duma, which make laws. The Federal Assembly is also calld the Parlamrnt, but it’s not its oficial name. Both chambers are headed by chairmen sometimes called speakers. The Duma consists of 450 deputies (one half is elected personally py the population, and the other half consists of the deputies who are appointed by their parties after voting). The members of the Federation Counsil are elected on a different basis. There are two representatives of each subject of the RF (89 subjects). Every law to be adapted must be approved by the State Duma, the Counsil of Federation and signed by the President. The President can veto laws passed by the Federal Assembly, but it can pass laws over the President’s veto a two-thirds majority.

The Federal Government represents the executive branch of power. The President appoints its head, the Chainman of the Government, but the Dums must approve his appointment.

The juridical branch of power consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and lower Courts. The responsibility of the Constitutional Court is to analyse the new laws to make sure they correspond to the laws of the state. The Constitutional Court has tte right to declare actions of the President, the Federal Assembly and the Federal Government unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is the higest instance for civil and criminal cases.

What political system does the russian federation represent

Back to home page click here

A SHORT GUIDE TO THE

RUSSIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM

The Russian political system is one of the more recent notionally to embrace democracy but remains deeply flawed in terms of its democratic credentials, overwhelmingly tainted by corruption, and massively influenced by the power and personality of one man, Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Federation was the largest nation to emerge from the break up of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Following the constitutional crisis of 1993, Russia adopted a new constitution in a referendum of December 1993. Essentially the country is described as a federal presidential republic.

The constitution of 1993 provides strong powers for the President. 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. Indeed Russia’s strong presidency is sometimes compared with that of Charles de Gaulle in the French Fifth Republic (1958-69).

The President’s power in practice is underlined by his power to make so many appointments of key officials. It is estimated that the size of the Presidential apparatus in Moscow and the localities is more than 75,000 people, most of them employees of state-owned enterprises directly under Presidential control.

The Law on Presidential Elections requires that the winner receive more than 50% of the votes cast. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates in term of votes must face each other in a run-off election. Under the original 1993 constitution, the President was elected for a four-year term but, in November 2008, the constitution was amended to make this a six year term. The President is eligible for a second term but constitutionally he is barred from a third consecutive term.

The first President of the new Russia was Boris Yelsin who was elected in June 1991. He was followed by his hand-picked successor Vladimir Putin. After a term as Acting President, he was elected for his first term in May 2000 and for a second term in March 2004. In accordance with the constitution, he stepped down in March 2008 and was succeeded by his nominated successor Dmitry Medvedev (previously a First Deputy Prime Minister).

According to the official figures, in 2012, Putin took 63.6% of the vote on a turnout of 65.3% while, in 2018, he took 76.6% of the vote on a turnout of 67.6%, a significantly larger share on a slightly increased turnout. Putin is genuinely popular among Russian voters but these figures substantially overstate that support because he controls most of the the media and massively limits the scope for opposition.

Originally, after his two four year terms and his two six year terms as president, constitutionally Putin should have been required to step down in March 2024. However, in April 2021, Putin signed a law that will allow him to run for the presidency twice more in his lifetime, potentially keeping him in office until 2036.

Officially, the new law limits Russian citizens to two presidential terms in their lifetime, outlawing the kind of shuffling between the presidency and the role of prime minister that Putin employed earlier in his career, but the law specifically does not count terms served until it entered into force, meaning that Putin’s past four terms (including the current term) do not count and he can still serve two more.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President with the approval of the Duma and is first-in-line to the presidency in the case of the President’s death or resignation.

In May 2012, Putin returned to the Presidency and former President Medvedev became Prime Minister in an exchange of roles. In a surprise move, in January 2020 Putin appointed as Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Although little known by the public, his is admired among technocrats, becoming famous within a policy genre that, even for hardcore wonks, has only a niche audience: tax enforcement. This move is viewed by some observers as a pivot toward a new brand of techno-authoritarianism.

The lower house in the Russian Federal Assembly is the State Duma. It is the more powerful house, so all bills, even those proposed by the Federation Council, must first be considered by the Duma. However, the Duma’s power to force the resignation of the Government is severely limited. It may express a vote of no confidence in the Government by a majority vote of all members of the Duma, but the President is allowed to disregard this vote.

The Duma has 450 members who are known as deputies. Originally seats in the Duma were elected half by proportional representation (with at least 5% of the vote to qualify for seats) and half by single member districts. However, President Putin passed a decree that from the November 2007 election all seats were to be elected by proportional representation with at least 7% of the vote to qualify for seats. This 7% threshold was one of the highest in Europe and, by introducing this, Putin eliminated independents and made it effectively impossible for small parties to be elected to the Duma.

Following further changes, now the Duma is elected through the parallel voting system that was used between 1993 and 2003. So half of the 450 seats are elected by proportional representation from closed party lists with a 5% electoral threshold with the whole country as a single constituency. The other 225 seats are elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system.

Under the original 1993 constitution, elections were held every four years but, in November 2008, the constitution was amended to make the Duma’s term five years. The last Duma election was held on 17 to 19 September 2021, so the next one is die in late 2026.

The Duma is headquartered in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square.

THE FEDERATION COUNCIL

The upper house in the Russian Federal Assembly is the Federation Council. The Council has 170 members who are known as senators. Each of the 85 federal subjects of Russia sends two members to the Council.

The federal subjects are the 47 oblasts (provinces), the eight krais (various large territories with the same legal status as oblasts)), the two federal cities (Moscow and St Petersburg), the 21 republics (areas of non-Russian ethnicity), the four autonomous okrugs (various regions) and one autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast), each category of which has different powers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, although the two most recently added subjects are internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

One senator is elected by the provincial legislature and the other is nominated by the provincial governor and confirmed by the legislature.

As a result of the territorial nature of the upper house, terms to the Council are not nationally fixed, but instead are determined according to the regional bodies the senators represent.

The Council holds its sessions within the Main Building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow, the former home of the Soviet State Building Agency (Gosstroi).

The main political party is called United Russia and led by Sergey Shoigu who is a General of the Army who has served as Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation since 2012. The party was founded in April 2001 as a result of a merger between several political parties. It describes itself as centrist, but it is essentially a creation of Vladimir Putin and supports him in the Duma and the Federation Council. In the Duma election of September 2021, the party won 49.82% which gave it no less than 324 seats out of a total of 450. According to data analyst Sergey Shpilkin, had the result not been fixed, the party would only have received just over 30%.

The main opposition party is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation led by Gennady Zyuganov. In the election of 2021, it won 19% of the vote and took 57 seats.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation consists of 19 judges, one being the Chairman and another one being Deputy Chairman. Judges are appointed by the President with the consent of the Federation Council.

The Constitutional Court is a court of limited subject matter jurisdiction. The 1993 constitution empowers the Constitutional Court to arbitrate disputes between the executive and legislative branches and between Moscow and the regional and local governments. The court also is authorised to rule on violations of constitutional rights, to examine appeals from various bodies, and to participate in impeachment proceedings against the President.

In fact, the dismissal of Russia’s powerful prosecutor-general Yuri Skuratov in 1999, the indictment of Russia’s richest oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003 and again in 2010, the unexplained murder of investigative journalist Anna Plitkovskaya in 2006, the death in prison of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009, the imprisonment of the three Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova & Yekaterina Samutsevich in 2012, the expulsion from the Duma of opposition deputy Gennady Gudkov in 2012, the conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2013, the assassination of leader of the opposition Boris Nemtsov in 2015, the poisoning of Navalny in 2020, and the imprisonment of Nalavny in 2021 are but the most dramatic examples of the relentless seizure of political power exercised by Putin and his allies. This had led «The Economist», in its publication «The World Ahead 2022», to describe «the transformation of Vladimir Putin’s regime from a consensual autocracy into tyranny». The invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 has changed so much in both countries. It is widely felt that, since the war started, Russia has switched from being an authoritarian regime to a totalitarian one.

The dominant political clan in Russia is often referred to as the siloviki, veterans of the security and military establishment led by Putin himself. Perhaps to the surprise of external observers, Putin’s leadership is still popular among the public outside the major cities, partly because it is seen as restoring Russia’s standing after the humiliating collapse of the Soviet Union, partly because it follows in a long historic tradition of strong central leadership stretching from the Tsars and through Stalin. More widely, the political battle lines in Russia are not for or against democracy or corruption; all parties are notionally for democracy but know that it does not exist, while all parties are theoretically against corruption but do nothing to tackle it. The real battle line is between centralisation and regionalism, that is whether all meaningful power should reside in the Kremlin or whether power should be shared with the regions and major cities.

Last modified on 13 July 2022

If you would like to comment on this essay e-mail me

For guides to the political systems of other nations click here