Explore the powers of the Russian president by comparing it with other forms of presidential governments and examine the presidential-parliamentary government in Russia.

        Vladimir Putin’s victory on March 26th, 2000, in the presidential election was a victory for democracy in Russia.  Russia adopted a presidential-parliamentary system of its own in 1993, with intent to ease the transition from communism to democracy.  Putin, similarly to Boris Yeltsin before him, wants to be free to make fundamental political and economic reforms to make a more democratic Russia possible.  This paper will argue that although president Putin’s powers may be necessary for the democratic reforms in Russia, the Russian president does in fact posses too much power.  Furthermore, Putin’s effort to reassert the authority of the central government, over the entire country threatens the development of a greater degree of democracy in Russia.  Finally, this paper will analyze the concepts of parliamentary and presidential democracies in discussing the current political situation in Russia.  The political scene in Russia was highly volatile and fragmented in the early 1990’s but has begun to settle.  For the past decade Russia has been more or less a democracy, with a market economy and on civilized terms with its neighbours.  This in fact is only the beginning for Russia if in fact they truly want to become a more democratic.  As it is now the Russian president has an enormous amount of power over the country, far more than other presidential democracies.  In Russia, the president has even greater constitutional powers than the president of the United States, while the legislature has fewer powers than the U.S. Congress.  At an attempt to strengthen Russia, among other benefits, Putin is looking to overhaul the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, giving himself more control over regional governments.  This move would drastically increase Putin’s power, threatening the new democracy in Russia.  His plan has some benefits however it does not appear to support his promise of democracy, leaving Russian citizens wondering whether it is a move towards democracy or dictatorship.

        This paper will explore the powers of the Russian president by comparing it with other forms of presidential governments and examine the presidential-parliamentary government in Russia.  The first section will compare the powers of Vladimir Putin to those of the United States president.  It will also examine the parliamentary part of the Russian political system and look at the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of democracies.  The second section of the paper will look at Putin’s efforts to make a stronger central government, giving himself even more power as president.  Governors of Russia provinces would lose their power as a result of this change.  Finally, the two topics will be tied together and the state of democracy in Russia will be analyzed.  

        Boris Yeltsin won the first democratic presidential election in Russia in June 1991 and was re-elected in July 1996.  This was a significant step for democracy in Russia as was Putin’s presidential victory in the March 2000 election.  However, the collapse of communism in Russia was superficial and partial.  Well connected people and organizations, especially the securities services started clawing back power right away, and many became rich and powerful.  Today in Russia, with regular elections and a market economy, as well as an increase in travel by citizens, there is some degree of a democracy in place, however it is still fairly weak.  One reason why a greater sense of democracy is not enjoyed in Russia is because of the powers of the president.  The Russian president has more power over Russia than the United States president does over America.  The Russian president, for example, may issue decrees or other executive decisions without parliamentary approval.  “He may even possess the authority to declare a state of national emergency and govern with little or no parliamentary check on his authority.  The parliament, for its part, can be constitutionally forbidden to propose or pass laws in certain areas that are the exclusive preserve of presidential or cabinet authority.”  Russia has been a presidential-parliamentary democracy since 1992.  The main purpose of this type of democracy is to speed up the process of making governmental decisions.  The power of Russian presidents is an attempt to avoid the protracted wrangling that often takes place when legislators dominate lawmaking.  “Presidential-parliamentary democracies are thus intended above all to maximize the efficiency of the decision-making process and the stability of executive authority” The problem, as in Russia’s case is that a president with too much power may abuse it, perhaps threatening the very principles of negotiation, accommodation, and the country’s democracy.  Under the presidential-parliamentary system voters elect the president, as well as the lower and upper house.  The Prime Minister, who is head of the government with decision-making powers, is responsible to the legislature as well as the president.  The Russian constitution created a two-chamber legislature, the lower house, the State Duma, with 450 deputies elected on territorial basis; and the upper house, the Federation Council, with 178 deputies, 2 from each of Russia’s 89 republics and regions.  The Prime Minister approves the work of the Lower House and then it goes to President who is head of the state with decision-making powers.  Under most presidential-parliamentary systems there is a dual executive of power between the Prime Minister and the President.  This is only somewhat true in the case of Russia, as Putin’s powers are so strong and therefore, Russian Prime Minister; Mikhail Kasyanov’s powers are very restricted.  One of the reasons Putin has more power than Bush, is because Russia is lacking a system of checks and balances similar to the United States.  The United States system has a separation of powers between the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches of government.  This gives all three of these branches unique power so one branch of government doesn’t have all the control.  It allows different branches to oversee decisions made by their counterparts.  Russia is lacking a checks and balances system, which would strengthen their legislature and spread the balance of powers, making their president less powerful and increase the current state of democracy.  Although Russia is a Presidential-parliamentary government the distribution of power is minimal making the President’s power dominating.  It analyzing Russia’s democracy it is important to understand the concepts of parliamentary democracies compared to presidential democracies.  The defining principle of a parliamentary government is that the government is selected in two-step process.  First of all, the people elect the national legislature, and then the Lower House elects or approves the government.  In this system there is a fusion of powers between the legislature and the executive different from the separation of powers as in the United States government.  In other words, the government in a parliamentary system stems from the legislature and is formally accountable to it.  Similarly to every form of government, a parliamentary system has its strengths and its weaknesses.  Although this system does not have the system of checks and balances as in the United States, it does a nonconfidence vote, which provides a check on the government.  Other benefits of a parliamentary democracy include the idea of a majority government, which allows a party with a majority government to govern the country very effectively.  On the other hand, without a majority government the system can be very unstable.  Another weakness of this system is the fact that because party loyalty is necessary, individual members may have to vote against the wishes of their constituents.  One of the main strengths of a presidential democracy, which is not present in Russia’s Presidential-parliamentary democracy, is the fact that a separation of powers discourages concentration of power.  As well, checks and balances limit the power of the other branches of government.  A weakness of a presidential democracy is that voters cannot pin responsibility on any one party.  As well, although the separations of powers distribute power to the different branches of government, it often makes it impossible to run an efficient government.  It is difficult to state which system is better for democracy, as they bot have advantages and disadvantages, but it is very important to understand these two different democracies in analyzing the current political situation in Russia.