pulsipherconcepts3e

5.1 Chapter 5 RUSSIA AND THE POST-SOVIET STATES

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chapter 5

RUSSIA AND THE POST-SOVIET STATES▶

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GEOGRAPHIC INSIGHTS

After you read this chapter, you will be able to discuss the following issues as they relate to the five thematic concepts:

1.	Environment:	Economic development has taken precedence over environmental concerns in Russia and the post-Soviet states for decades, resulting in numerous environmental problems such as severe pollution of the air and water by toxic industrial waste. This region’s contribution to climate change is increasing as more people use automobiles for transportation. In parts of this region, food production systems and water resources are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
2.	Globalization and Development:	After the fall of the Soviet Union, economic reforms and globalization changed patterns of development in this region. Wealth disparity increased and jobs were lost as many Communist-era industries were closed or sold to the rich and well connected. The region is now largely dependent on its role as a leading global exporter of energy resources.
3.	Power and Politics:	This region has a long history of authoritarianism. While there is some pressure to expand political freedoms, there are still few opportunities for the public to influence the political process. Elected representative bodies often act as rubber stamps for very strong presidents and exercise only limited influence on policy making.
4.	Urbanization:	A few large cities in Russia and Central Asia are growing fast, fueled by the expansion of energy exports. Elsewhere, many cities are suffering from a lack of investment and maintenance as their economies struggle in the post-Soviet era.
5.	Population and Gender:	Populations are shrinking in many parts of the region due largely to lower birth rates and declines in life expectancy. These changes relate to consistently high levels of participation by women in the workforce and to the economic decline in the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Men and women have been affected differently in the post-Soviet era, with men much more likely to suffer from alcoholism and related health problems.

The Russia and Post-Soviet States Region

Russia and the post-Soviet states (Figure 5.1) make up a large portion of Eurasia, the world’s largest continent. Despite its vastness, the region is not highly populated and has a climate that, in many places, is unforgiving.

Figure 5.1: Regional map of Russia and the post-Soviet states.

The five thematic concepts are explored as they arise in the discussion of regional issues. Vignettes, such as the one below, illustrate one or more of the themes as they are experienced in individual lives.

GLOBAL PATTERNS, LOCAL LIVES

It is February 2012 and a cold, snowy day in Moscow, the capital of the Russian Federation. Tens of thousands of protesters hold hands to form an enormous circle around the city, along one of the traffic-clogged ring roads that Moscow is known for. National elections are coming up soon, and the demonstrators are trying to defeat the favorite for the presidential post, Vladimir Putin. Marina Segupova, a 28-year-old interior decorator, participates in the demonstration, which she hopes will spur further protest. Using a metaphor apt for the moment, she describes the protest movement: “We are a snowball and we are rolling.” At the same time, she acknowledges, change will not come easily. Another middle-class professional, the 56-year-old accountant Galina Venediktova, came to voice her opinion about corruption and poor public services. During that same month, other forms of protest were less conventional. The feminist punk band Pussy Riot staged an unauthorized “guerilla performance” at a Moscow cathedral, in which they decried the policies of Vladimir Putin and became a worldwide media sensation.

Putin had already served 8 years as president, from 2000 to 2008. Prevented by the constitution from running again for a third consecutive term, he had an ally become president for 4 years, after which Putin ran for a third and completely legal nonconsecutive term. Despite the efforts of Segupova, Venediktova, Pussy Riot, and other demonstrators, Putin is again serving as president of Russia after having decisively won the March 2012 election. The outcome of the election was hardly in doubt, due to the lack of other serious contenders for the presidency and Putin’s dominance in state media reporting.

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On the face of it, these events suggest that the political status quo has been maintained and that power is still concentrated within a small group of elites who have little interest in the expansion of political freedoms. However, the upwelling of demonstrations indicates that the political landscape is slowly changing in Russia. A few months earlier, a contested election in Russia’s parliament, the Federal Assembly, also resulted in widespread protests by people who felt that the election had been rigged to ensure the victory of Putin’s party. After Putin’s election, protests continued in the streets and squares of central Moscow (Figure 5.2). In 2012, three members of Pussy Riot were put on trial and sentenced to prison for “hooliganism,” which has reinforced the suspicion among many that political dissent in Russia will be repressed by the authorities.

Figure 5.2: Political demonstration in Moscow. Riot police in Moscow detain journalist and civil rights activist Alexandr Podrabinek during a rally protesting the inauguration of Vladimir Putin as president of Russia in 2012. The region of Russia and post-Soviet states is transitioning from a political culture in which authority was rarely questioned to one in which protests are increasingly common. Nevertheless, many leaders continue to be highly authoritarian.

THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY

Question 5.1

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As Russia slowly becomes wealthier, its people are demanding more political freedoms. This is especially true of the growing middle class, the urbanites in large cities (particularly those in Moscow and St. Petersburg), and the country’s youth. But so far, politicians like Vladimir Putin have the support of the majority of Russians, who perceive them as strong leaders. People in hardscrabble industrial cities, small towns, and rural areas, along with the elderly, view Putin as a force for stability, which is favored by many, considering the political turbulence Russia has had during the last two decades. Putin being reelected also has larger global geopolitical ramifications because the relationship between Russia and the West sometimes involves suspicion on each side and sometimes, when it suits both regions, is one of cooperation. [Sources: Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, and Sky News. For detailed source information, see Text Sources and Credits.]

Russia is the largest country in a region that has entirely changed its political and economic systems in a short period of time. Barely two decades ago, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was the largest political unit in the world, stretching from Central Europe to the Pacific Ocean. It covered one-sixth of Earth’s land surface. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke apart, ending a 70-year era of nearly complete governmental control of the economy, society, and politics. Over the course of a few years, attempts were made to substitute the Communist Party’s economic control with capitalist systems similar to those of Western countries, which are based on competition among private businesses. The transition has proven difficult.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) the multinational union formed from the Russian empire in 1922 and dissolved in 1991; commonly known as the Soviet Union

Soviet Union see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Politically, the Soviet Union has been replaced by a loose alliance known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. It consists of Russia and 11 independent post-Soviet states—the European states of Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova; the Caucasian states of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; and the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan (Figure 5.3). Three former Soviet republics, the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, are now part of the European Union (see Chapter 4). Russia, which was always the core of the Soviet Union, remains predominant in the Commonwealth of Independent States and is influential in the world because of its size (at roughly three-quarters the size of the former Soviet Union, it is still the largest country in the world), population, military, and huge oil and gas reserves.

Figure 5.3: Political map of Russia and the post-Soviet states.

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Geopolitically, this region is still sorting out its relationships. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies is over. Most former Soviet allies in Central Europe have already joined the European Union, and some other countries in the region may eventually do the same. Trade with Europe, especially in oil and gas, is booming, if fraught with conflict. In the future, the Central Asian states currently allied with Russia may align themselves with neighbors in Southwest Asia or South Asia. The far eastern parts of Russia—and Russia as a whole—are already finding common trading ground with East Asia and Oceania (Figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4: Russia and the post-Soviet states: Contacts with other world regions. The region of Russia and the post-Soviet states is in flux as all of the component countries rethink their geopolitical positions relative to one another and to adjacent regions. The arrows indicate various types of contact, ranging from economic to religious and cultural.

After 70 years of authoritarian rule, elections are becoming the norm throughout this region. Whether these are actually free and fair elections is debatable, as opposition candidates are marginalized by lack of access to both print and broadcast media. Meanwhile, an explosion of crime and corruption has many wondering if the new political systems of this region are strong enough to endure.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

Politically, the Soviet Union has been replaced by a loose alliance known as the Commonwealth of Independent States that consists of Russia and 11 independent post-Soviet states.
A process of geopolitical realignment is taking place, in which some post-Soviet states seek closer relations with Europe, while others are developing ties with nearby Asian countries. However, most maintain strong ties with Russia, which dominates this region.
Elections have become common in the region, although whether they are free and fair is uncertain. Political systems in the region are also threatened by crime and corruption.

What Makes Russia and the Post-Soviet States a Region?

Russia and the post-Soviet states are today associated as a region primarily because of their history from the nineteenth century onward. Imperial Russia underwent a convulsive revolution in 1917 that resulted in a new political and economic experiment with socialism that lasted until 1991. The leaders of this revolution continued with the imperial practice of territorial expansion that ultimately enveloped countries from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific and from the Arctic Sea to the mountains of Caucasia and southern Central Asia (see the Figure 5.1 map). Control of the economic and political systems of what eventually became known as the Soviet Union was exercised primarily from the Russian capital Moscow through authoritarianism reinforced with militarism. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow’s dominance diminished somewhat as western parts of the region oriented more toward Europe and the Central Asian republics became more autonomous (see Figure 5.4). Nevertheless, Russia remains the dominant power in this region.

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Terms in This Chapter

There is no entirely satisfactory new name for the former Soviet Union. In this chapter we use Russia and the post-Soviet states. One reason we do so is that economic, political, and social developments from the Soviet days still shape these countries today. Russia continues to be closely associated with these states economically, but they are independent countries, and their governments are legally separate from Russia’s. Russia itself is formally known as the Russian Federation because it includes more than 21 (mostly) ethnic internal republics (also called semiautonomous regions)—such places as Chechnya, Ossetia, Tatarstan, and Buryatia—which all together constitute about one-tenth of the Federation’s territory and one-sixth of its population. Federation should not be taken to mean that the internal republics share power equally with the central Russian government in Moscow.

Russian Federation Russia and its political subunits, which include 21 internal republics