Is Russia a True Democracy?

Traditionally Russia has not been the most democratic society. Looking back to the days of the Russian Tsars, such as Ivan IV, who ruled as the unitary source of power and manufactured legitimacy in their citizens with tools such as fear, propaganda and other forms of corruption. The fall of the Russian Monarchy only led to the establishment of the Soviet Union, a communist society. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia was economically and socially unstable (due to the revolutions in Russia and The Cold War, among the fact that their country stood at the threshold of a system citizens had became used to and a completely new country all together). This is a major reason why the democratic and capitalist transition has been difficult in Russia, but also because Russia is a country almost "bred" to accept their government as the sole source of power and the fact that the citizen has no voice without the aid of violence. What I meant in that last sentence was that Democracy is a relatively new concept for Russia and it's citizens. Of course there are going to be issues for a country that less than twenty years ago suffered a major change in the economic and governmental structure, even after 1992 Russia suffered a constitutional crisis in 1993 and a financial collapse in 1998 (a financial crisis that seemed to scream "democracy doesn't work for us"). There is a reason that the same man has been in power since 2000, there is a reason that the biggest political party in Russia is backed by the (entire) government itself, and there is a reason that despite protest, petitions, and terrorist attacks, the government seems indifferent to the cries of It's citizens.

"In the eastern city of Vladivostok, where protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin."- BBC News - Home. BBC, 31 Jan. 2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7862370.stm>.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/ rated Russia as a five out of a scale of thirteen on its Democratic scale, and has declared Russia a state that is "not free" according to its 2011 scores. How is this possible? A president is selected by direct election every four years, people have a multitude of political parties they can join, and the Russian citizen has just as much voice in his/her government as the rest of the western world. Judging by the face value it would seem in fact that Russia is a substantive democracy, perhaps even more so than the United States, whose president is elected by the Electoral College not entirely directly by the people. But looming behind the strong democratic, anti-terrorist, and above all "trustworthy" face of Dmitry Medvedev, stands a person, more than a person, an idea, the idea of a Prime Minister. Despite the many sources that state the Prime Minster Reports to the President, the truth is the same man has been in power since 1999. This is strange, but not illogical, except when you take into account that in 2012 Vladimir Putin will be switching places with Dmitry Medvedev, despite the mass protest in Russia demanding Putin's resignation.

In the United States there are two main parties, Democratic and Republican. Of course there are several smaller political interest groups, and a very popular anomic group that started recently (Occupy Together). Although U.S citizens do not directly elect their president, they do directly elect their senators, governors, congressmen etc. It is safe to say that although the number of Republican to Democratic officials may not be entirely equal, because it is completely up to the citizens the ratio balances itself out (of course this is a generalization). In Russia however, there are four main Political Parties they are the following:

1. United Russia Russia. United Russia. Единая Россия официальный сайт партии. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://er.ru/>.

2. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation KPRF. Официальный сайт КПРФ | KPRF.RU. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://kprf.ru/>.

3. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia LDPR. Официальный сайт ЛДПР, информационное агентство ЛДПР, новости ЛДПР. Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://www.ldpr.ru/>.

4. A Just Russia SR. Политическая партия СПРАВЕДЛИВАЯ