Global Positioning

• Largest country in the world
• Controls lots of natural resources, including gas/oil thus a lot of control over E.U
• Being born from the conflict following USSR, does not get along with America/some western countries
• Strong Allies with China
• Middle East: Supports Syrian Government (Opposite from America)
• Instability on several of its borders

Governing Economics

• Was historically a command economy
• Government used to control the states economy
• in late 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev implemented Perestroika
• After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s, President Boris Yeltsin introduced Shock Therapy to remedy the wealth gap created from the shift to a free market economy
• Due to rising oil prices, Russia has prospered as a capitalist economy
• Due to the rise of capitalism, we see a rise in oligarchs, people who control a certain industrial/economic sector & have great pull in politics.
• A rise of middle-class is seen in the previous years.

Democratisation

Russia never fully transition into democratization successfully and currently is a federal semi-presidential republic. However, citizens seek democracy and protest as a result. Also, Russia made progress towards democracy in the first years of an independent Russia under President Boris Yeltsin. However, during the mid-1990s that progress came to a halt. Russian liberals often argue that to reach their goals they must shrink the role of the state and move towards Western-style individual freedoms. However, many can argue that one of the few things preventing Russia from reaching democratization is President Vladimir Putin who expresses his belief that Russian should become a democracy, however, rules in an authoritarian style.