First Half of Russia Presentation Kelli Bennett Carly Garrison Josh Overcash Joseph Williams Melissa Williams

Russia Kelli Bennett Carly Garrison Josh Overcash Joseph Williams Mel Williams

Type of Society Geographical Location o Eurasia o East of Europe; North of China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia

Landscape Everything from grasslands to tundra and taiga Type of Society

o Industrial Society (Stalin) o Post-Soviet collapse  Economic Crisis o : Industrial Output & GDP o Shock therapy, hyperinflation, poverty o Privatization

Type of Society Current boundaries since December 1991

A brief history o Kievan Rus’ (Vikings) – 9 th century, Christian o Mongols o 1453; “Russia” o 1547; Tsardom, Ivan IV o 1682; Peter I, Russia o 1905; Bloody Revolution & Duma o 1917; Russia Revolution o 1991; Fall of Soviet Union Type of Society

Technology & Economy

Economic Activity Major o Largest natural gas reserves o Second largest coal reserves o 8 th largest oil reserves. o Leading natural gas exporter o Second leading oil exporter. o Minor: mining, machine building, defense, shipbuilding, textiles, foodstuffs

o Gross domestic product per capita at $14,600 in 2007, an 8.1 % from o GDP (PPP) – trillion, ranked 7 th by CIA World Factbook o Average salary was $540 per month in 2007 ($920 PPP) o Population below poverty line was 12.5 % in 2007 o Low inflation and strict budget lead to growth o Industrial output in 2007 grew by 6.3 % compared to 2006 o Moscow is the most expensive city to live in Economic Development

Populatio n The primary causes of Russia's population decrease and loss of about 700,000 to 800,000 citizens each year are a high death rate, low birth rate, high rate of abortions, and a low level of immigration. Attempts to thwart this population decline include acts by the government to get their people to conceive, the act was known as National Conception Day.

Low Birth Rate Due to high rates of alcoholism and economic hardship, women feel less than encouraged to have children in Russia. Women in Russia have a birth rate of 1.3 per women per lifetime. In order to have Russia reach stable population replacement rate women would need to have 2.1 children per lifetime. The crude birth rate of Russia is 10 per 1000 people; the world average is twice as high. Abortion One person has said that there are more abortions than there are births in Russia. The online news source mosnews.com reported that in million women had abortions in Russia while 1.5 million gave birth. In 2003, the BBC reported that Russia had, "13 terminations for every 10 live births." The infant mortality rate is 11.6

High Death Rate Russia has a very high death rate of 15 deaths per 1000 people per year. The world death rate is 9 per thousand people per year. Alcohol related deaths represent the bulk of emergency room visits. Men have a life expectancy of 59 while women are expected to live to be 72. The reason for this is because of men higher propensity for alcoholism and alcohol related deaths. Emigration Additionally, immigration into Russia is low - immigrants are primarily a trickle of ethnic Russians moving out of former republics (but now independent countries) of the Soviet Union. Brain drain and emigration from Russia to Western Europe and other parts of the world is high as native Russians seek to better their economic situation.

Religion

Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion Other Major Religions: o Christianity o Islam o Buddhism o Judaism o It is estimated that 16 % of the population consider themselves non believers

o In a way they attempt to create a strong identity, but it is difficult because of uprisings from the other religious parties, such as the Muslims. o Russia has throughout history been trying to create a national identity, and it's always been based on the national majority, which has been a problem with the minorities, such as other religious parties o Attempts: Russians have two words for "Russian" (as in person, not language) - one means "Russian (ethnically)" and one means "Russian (by citizenship)." "what is your father's name?" Three basic tenants: universal suffrage, "mothering," and sharing. Russian National Identity

Sub- National Identity o A sub-national identity created by religion. Compared to the estimated 3-15 million practicing Orthodox, there are million practicing Muslims. o Minor sub-national language is English, with ~7 million speakers, compared to ~143 million speaking the major Russian language (~1:20 ratio)

Polity and Conflict

The government of Russia is known as the Federal Presidential Republic Russia relies mainly on a constitution known as the Constitution of the Russian Federation and was established in Other sources of law are the Presidential decrees and USSR legislations

United Russia Communist Party of the Russian Federation Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Fair Russia Political Parties

Three Branches of Government: Executive, Federal Assembly (legislative), and Judicial Executive o The head of the entire state is the President in a multi party system o The head of executive party is prime minister and is elected by the President and is confirmed by the parliament Federal Assembly There are two chambers 1. Upper Branch Federation Council 2. Lower Branch State Duma

Russian Court Syste m Constitutional court It can determine the constitutionality of claims. Supreme Court of Arbitration It has final jurisdiction over all commercial claims. Supreme Court It has final jurisdiction over all criminal, civil, and administrative law cases.

o In the 2006 G8 Summit President Vladimir Putin addressed the growing problem of corruption in Russia. Mr. Putin said that Russia’s growing corruption is one of the most serious barriers to the development of the state. Corruption in Russia o Russia is believed to have a shadow economy that is twice as big as their economy. This belief has lead to the assumption that Russia’s biggest source of corruption comes from the state. o It is generally believed that bribes are more effective and less time consuming than seeking legitimate redress through governmental outlets.