Deck 6: Russia

Question 1

Conquest by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, Orthodox Christianity, and written Cyrillic contributed to Russia's cultural isolation from Europe.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Russia and China experienced similar paths out of communism.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Russia has a long history of limited government, pluralism, and checks and balances.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The 1905 Russian Revolution was partially the product of the Russo-Japanese War that exposed the tsarist military for being strong, repressive, and unjust.

Question 5

Russia can be characterized as a weak state due to its considerable corruption, crime, and insecurity.

Question 6

The Supreme Soviet was a powerful bicameral legislature from which the Communist Party chairman was chosen.

Question 7

The Soviet Union completely collapsed in the months following the August 1991 attempted coup against Gorbachev.

Question 8

The Russian president can dismiss the Duma if it rejects the president's nominee for prime minister three times.

Question 9

The majority of Russians are strongly committed to democracy.

Question 10

By helping to reveal deep dissatisfaction with the Soviet government, glasnost contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Question 11

__________ dramatically expanded Russian territory through brute force and set a standard for future Russian rulers.

A) Joseph Stalin
B) Peter the Great
C) Catherine the Great
D) Ivan the Terrible

Question 12

What is an autocracy?

A) the rule of one party in a centralized state
B) the rule of powerful business owners in a federal system
C) the rule of one person in a centralized state
D) the rule of the military in a decentralized state

Question 13

What triggered the attempted 1993 Russian coup?

A) Boris Yeltsin's invasion of Poland
B) Boris Yeltsin's dissolution of the Russian parliament
C) Vladimir Putin's refusal to step down at the end of his term
D) Vladimir Putin's decision to nationalize the oil and gas industry

Question 14

Since the late 1800s, Russian communism has been known as __________.

A) proletariatism
B) democratic socialism
C) Bolshevikism
D) Marxism-Leninism

Question 15

Vladimir Lenin advocated achieving communism through __________.

A) democratic means
B) waiting for capitalism to run its course
C) pushing for better wages and working conditions through labor unions
D) forcing a revolution

Question 16

__________ was the early name of Lenin's faction of the Communist Party.

A) Leninist
B) Marxist
C) Bolshevik
D) Menshevik

Question 17

Which of the following was a reform implemented by Tsar Nicholas II in an effort to prevent another revolution?

A) sedition decrees
B) democratic election of a parliament known as the Duma
C) government censorship of the press
D) increased wages

Question 18

Which of the following was a cornerstone of Stalin's Five-Year Plans?

A) forced industrialization
B) decreased production of consumer goods
C) a return to agrarian society
D) opening up the political system

Question 19

Which of the following points to the weakness of Russian institutions?

A) the shifting of power to the presidency in 2008
B) public desire for a strong leader
C) the shifting of power to the Duma in the early 2000s
D) Putin's ability to shift power to himself when he changed positions

Question 20

Of the following, who had the most power in the Soviet Union?

A) Central Committee
B) Party Congress
C) Presidium
D) Politburo

Question 21

The __________ is the most powerful actor in most Communist systems.

A) president
B) party chief
C) Politburo
D) Central Committee

Question 22

Who was the first Soviet party chief?

A) Vladimir Lenin
B) Josef Stalin
C) Karl Marx
D) Nikita Khrushchev

Question 23

Who was the last Soviet party chief?

A) Yuri Andropov
B) Konstantin Chernenko
C) Mikhail Gorbachev
D) Boris Yeltsin

Question 24

If a country with multiple nationalities were to model its territorial organization after the USSR, it would __________.

A) try to stamp out all cultural differences in a federal system
B) give all nationalities independence
C) use force to eliminate all but the largest nationalities
D) give the largest nationalities their own autonomous regions

Question 25

What did Marx believe would happen to the state (the government) after socialism eliminated class differences?

A) The state would flourish and grow.
B) The state would wither away.
C) That state would cast off socialism and implement democratic reforms.
D) The state would be taken over by a strong and ruthless leader.

Question 26

The current Russian political system is best characterized as a __________ system.

A) parliamentary
B) presidential
C) commission
D) semipresidential

Question 27

Since 1993, the president has traditionally been the strongest actor in Russian politics, but this was not the case from 2008 to 2012 when President __________ appointed __________ as prime minister and power shifted to that office.

A) Yeltsin; Andropov
B) Medvedev; Putin
C) Putin; Yeltsin
D) Gorbachev; Medvedev

Question 28

The Russian legislature consists of a lower house, the _________, and an upper house, the _________.

A) Duma; Federation Council
B) Federation Council; National Assembly
C) Diet; Duma
D) Bundestag; Bundesrat

Question 29

Putin's __________ Party is dominant in the legislature, making it very unlikely that the Duma will override a presidential veto.

A) Labor United
B) Liberal Democratic
C) Patria Russia
D) United Russia

Question 30

What kind of electoral system does the Russian Duma use?

A) proportional representation
B) single-member districts with simple plurality
C) mixed-member
D) appointment with electoral referendum after 2 years

Question 31

Russia is best characterized as a _______-party system.

A) one
B) two
C) dominant
D) multi

Question 32

Tocqueville argued that __________ is necessary for true democracy.

A) a benevolent dictator
B) civil society
C) a political party system
D) proletarian revolution

Question 33

Which of the following do Russians respect, as they consider them civilized and cultured given their more European ties?

A) Muslims in Caucasus
B) Muslims in Central Asia
C) Chechens
D) Baltic peoples

Question 34

Putin has handed over control of major industries to strongmen tied to the Kremlin who are known as __________.

A) apparat
B) apparatchiki
C) Politburo
D) siloviki

Question 35

Marxism is a method of analysis that stresses __________.

A) social class conflict
B) colonialism
C) imperialism
D) technology

Question 36

Gorbachev's attempt to liberalize the Soviet economy is called __________.

A) glasnost
B) nomenklatura
C) perestroika
D) apparatuk

Question 37

A rapid shift to a market economy is referred to as economic __________ and was a disaster in Russia.

A) free marketeering
B) perestroika
C) shock therapy
D) glasnost

Question 38

Putin brought the __________ industry under the control of the Kremlin by falsely charging Mikhail Khodorkovsky with fraud and taking over his firm.

A) oil and natural gas
B) steel
C) beef
D) technology

Question 39

Discuss the sources of the revolution initiated by the Bolsheviks in 1917. Address all relevant political, social, and economic causes. Was the revolution avoidable? Did the tsar's reforms after the 1905 Revolution have any chance at preventing the revolution? Explain.

Question 40

Describe and discuss Stalin's Five-Year Plans. What was the goal of these plans? Did Stalin achieve his goals? Were there any negative consequences? Explain and provide examples.

Question 41

Describe the distribution of power under the Soviet model. What institutions were most powerful? How did this differ from the way power is supposed to be distributed? Make sure that you provide examples and address the concept of democratic centralism.

Question 42

What is civil society? Do you agree that civil society is necessary for the formation of democracy? Explain. How did the Soviet Union deal with civil society? Has Russia under Putin's leadership been any different? Do you think Russia can become democratic based on its experiences with civil society?

Question 43

How has Putin managed to consolidate power in Russia? Has he obtained the support of the population and the Duma? If so, how? Evaluate whether there is any chance at democracy developing under Putin.

Question 44

What are the primary problems with the Russian economy? Provide explanations that engage economic and political factors. Based on this information, what changes need to occur for the Russian economy to improve and stabilize? Are these changes likely? Why or why not?