A.p. Comparitive Government Chapter 4- Russia

Front 1

Oligarchs

Back 1

A form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royal, wealth, intellectual, family, military, or religious hegemony.

Front 2

Mafia

Back 2

A Sicilian criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily, and the first such society to be referred to as a mafia. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct.

Front 3

Pyramid Debt

Back 3

The borrowing of funds in rapid succession without firs repaying previous debt, usually to meet obligation on earlier loans.

Front 4

Autonomous Republics

Back 4

A type of administrative division similar to a province. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia.

Front 5

Krai

Back 5

A term used to refer to nine of Russia's 83 federal subjects. The term is often translated as territory, province, country or region.

Front 6

Oblast

Back 6

A type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union.

Front 7

Okrug

Back 7

An administrative division of some Eastern European Slavic states. The word "okrug" is a loanword in but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "district", or "region".

Front 8

Patron-Clients Networks

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An official in the party or government bureaucracy could not advance in the nomenklatura without the assistance of a patron. In return for this assistance in promoting his career, the client carried out the policies of the patron. Patron-client relations thus help to explain the ability of party leaders to generate support for their policies. The presence of patron-client relations between party officials and officials in other bureaucracies also helped to account for the control the party exercised over Soviet society

Front 9

Siloviki

Back 9

A Russian word for politicians from the security or military services, often the officers of the KGB, the FSB, the Federal Narcotics Control Service and military or other security services who came into power. It can also refer to security-service personnel from any country or nationality.

Front 10

Asymmetrical Federalism

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Is found in a federation in which different constituent states possess different powers: one or more of the states has considerably more autonomy than the other substates, although they have the same constitutional status. The division of powers between substates is not symmetric. This is in contrast to a symmetric federation, where no distinction is made between constituent states.

Front 11

"Power Vertical"

Back 11

A diverse variety of informal political groups emerged during the presidency of Vladimir Putin. They include remnants of the so-called the Yeltsin Family, Sankt Petersburg lawyers and -economists, and security-intelligence elements called the siloviki.

Front 12

Civil Society

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Composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society as opposed to the force-backed structures of a state and commercial institutions of the market.

Front 13

Proportional Representation

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A category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive. Proportional Representation is a democratic principle rather than an electoral system in itself. It is often contrasted to plurality voting systems, where disproportional seat distribution results from the division of voters into multiple electoral districts.

Front 14

Single-Member Plurality District

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A single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies.

Front 15

Conditionality

Back 15

A concept in international development, political economy and international relations and describes the use of conditions attached to a loan, debt relief, bilateral aid or membership of international organizations, typically by the international financial institutions, regional organizations or donor countries.