[overview of the presentation]

understanding
Urbanisation in Russia
Geographical features
The Trans Siberian steppe
Upto 1250 AD
500BC_burgwall >Gorod >Gard>Grad Trade routes_Khazar_620-1050AD
Baltic to Baghdad
Extent_Khazar
Slavs(700-850) Decline of Khazar Early Rus_9
th
cent.
Upto 1250 AD
Trade along Dneiper and surrounding
valleys

Byzantine culture

Russian Orthodox Church (eastern
Orthodoxy) baptism of Kiev inhabitants
and Church state, liturgy, revenue

Economy, architecture, literature as
compared to surrounding regions Greek,
Latin influence

Slavs move towards northern forested
Zalesye






Upto 1250 AD
Mongol invasion_1223-40 Novgorod New cities_Tver, Nizhny, Moscow
Sarai, Mongol capital
Turkic population of Volga Bulgaria convert to Islam trade with
Middle East and Central Asia

Tatars tribute- threat from the Baltic

Fiscal system, military organisation, census, transportation and
postal road network
1283-1547
Daniel Aleksandrovish > Moscow central
riverine system, secured by forests and marshes

Major factor in ascendancy of Moscow
cooperation of rulers with Mongol overlords - title
of Grand Prince of Moscow as agents for
collecting Tatar tribute from Russian
principalities

Principality enhanced with Russian Orthodox
Church (established by Metropolitan) based out
of Moscow titular under Kiev

1380- Grand Princes rise against Mongol Yoke
1283-1547
15
th
cent Ivan III foundation for Russian state

Expansion Novgorod, Tver, Dneiper and Oka
river basins tripled the size

Moscow as new Rome

Absolute sovereignity of Russian provinces,
refusal to pay Tatars- defeat of the Mongol horde

Great Abatis Belt to protect the southern

Manor system for cavalry based army

Rulers of Moscow_ territory as collective property

Centralised control over local rulers

Anti-Catholicism curtain between Russia and
western Europe

Increasing autocracy > Tsar
1547-1721
Ivan IV (1547-84)

New code of laws (Sudebnik of 1550) [resulted
from 1
st
Russian parliament of the feudal estates
type Zemsky Sobor 1549

Curbed the influence of clergy, introduced local
self-management (distribution of taxes) and in
rural areas, participation of elected representatives

Liquidate privilege of aristocracy, strengthened
judicial bodies

Right of serf peasants to leave feudal lords after
the payment of two fixed fees

Failure to gain control of Baltic coast, annexation
of Siberia < migration of nomadic hordes from Asia
to Europe curbed < funded by mercantile
Stroganovs

Cossacks lower river basins development of
Russia and Ukraine

Post conquests > multiethinc, multiconfessional
state


Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
Swedish empire
1547-1721
1606-13

Russian famine (1601-03) social disorganisation, civil war and foreign intrusion,
devastation of cities and depopulation of rural regions < rule of weak Tsars

Polish invasion of 1611, Moscow volunteer army led by merchant Kuzma Minin
and prince Dmitri Pozharsky

Strength of govts central bureaucracy service regardless of rulers legitimacy

Romanovs

National assembly of representatives from 50 cities and peasants > Michael Romanov
a boyar (member of highest rank of feudal order

Bureaucratic centralisation <state service from old and new nobility in military > in return
allowing boyars to enserf peasants

Curtailed peasant rights to move, attached to land along with tax burden

Restricted mobility of craftsmen and tradesmen




1721-1917
Peter (1672-1725)

Russian state from Baltic to Pacific European
state system, autocratic absolutist state 14
million population (agri)

Geographic constraints trade hurdles > window
to sea

1703 Saint Petersburg new capital window
to Europe > Peter, as Tsar and emperor

Boyar council replaced by 9 member senate
newly divided countryside tax revenues (tripled)

Administrative Collegia [joined by law] replaces
old govt depts

Formal listing of positions and ranks to deal with
hereditary claims to nobility

Orthodox church administrative tool
patriarchate replaced by Holy Synod,
autocephalous body, govt official

Continued and intensified requirement of state
service for all nobles



1721-1917
Catherine II (1762)

Resurgence of nobility, Charter to Gentry
abolishing mandatory state service, legalised the
selling of serfs separate from land

Alexander I(1796)

Economy Napoleans Continental System
(Berlin decree) > Russias capture of Paris loss
of life

Emergence of Russia as regional power
inefficiency of the govt, isolation of people,
economic backwardness

Nicholas I (1825-55)

Officers exposure to liberalism of western Europe
> nobility for change > Decembrist Revolt

Statewide ideology as orthodoxy, autocracy,
nationality _ as nation brewing into modernity

Army strength, generals on civilian duty - army
as vehicle of upward social mobility; conscription

Weakened defence at time of Crimean War
1721-1917
Direction of growth (1840_W Europes
modernisation) Slavophiles call for collectivism of
mir

Supply of forces- Holy Alliance, Crimean War
loss to Britain and France Michael Bakunin

Abolition of Serfdom

Alexander II (1855) 23 out of 67.1 million serfs

Emancipation of serfs (1861) 1
st
liberal reform

Serfs full rights of citizens, to own property and
business (except household serfs); serfs on
imperial property given larger plots

End of landed aristocracys monopoly; property
brought from owners with state assistance state
bonds to owners and redemption tax of 5% of total
cost of land > land collectively by mir, supervised
the holdings paupers allotment

Unified judicial system over estates or realms,
local self-govt Zemstvo; universal military service

Central Asia raw materials (Trans-Caspian)
Supply of free labour to cities

Landowners say at provincial level as opposed to
autocracy, rise in capitalism local govt not
responsible for rules of operation of new market

Economic system similar to western europe
private ownership, free competition, minimal
regulation, hopes for a laissez fair e economy

Uneven application of legislation, significant
changes on holding composition


1721-1917
Alexander III reactionary, reversal to old maxim,
committed Slavophile Russification

Nicholas II (1894-1917)

Industrial Revolution- influence in Russia
overthrow the Tsar

Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets),-for
social reform and constitutional monarchy;
Socialist Revolutionary Party (Esers)- Narodnik
tradition and Russian Social democratic Laour
Party (RSLDP) primary exponent of Marxism
(1903_radical Bolsheviks and moderate
Mensheviks)

Failure at Russo-Japanese War Revolution of
1905 > October Manifesto > national Duma (legis)

Dissolution of the Duma

Treaty bound to protect Serbia . WW I repeated
military failures, bureaucratic ineptitude and
external import restrictions

Supplies and wages reduce, inflation, strikes;
1921- internal dissent curbed, despite external
support - consolidation



1890s- industrial development increasing
middle class > dynamic political atmosphere

State and foreigners owned industry (passive) -
working conditions, wages, taxes and agrarian
disorders > party formations

By 1914, work composition- 40% employees
(1000+) , 42% (100 to 1000) and 18% (100 or less)

Russian Revolution- 1917- begins with women
textile workers strike (8 March)

Alexander Kerensky October Revolution




1917-1991
Soviet Union

Russian SFSR,, Ukranian SSR, Belarusian SSr
and TranCaucasian SFSR (formation)

Constitution (1924) federal system < soviets in
villages, factories and cities in larger regions > All
Union Congress of Soviets controlled by
Communist Party Politburo from Moscow

War communism- upto 1921 land, all industry
and small businesses nationalised money
economy restricted strong opposition

New Economic Policy- peasants to sell surplus
in market, retail permitted; state responsible for
banking, transportation, heavy industries, public
utilities revival

Societal weaken patriarchal domination of
family, divorce and abortion- legality, impact on
labour market, child care , shift social life to soviet
clubs

Incorporation of minorities , atheism, education

Intensified medical services > impacts
1929-39

Stalin massive industrialisation; 1
st
Fiver Year
Plan (1929) abolition of NEP for swift
accumulation of capital resources through heavy
industry, collectivisation of agriculture and
restricted manufacture of consumer goods (all
economic activity controlled)

State control of farms and Kulaks forced off their
land, bad weather, confiscation of grain > famine

Drove people to cities > accelerated
industrialisation and rapid increase in urban
population

Plans results in areas apart from agriculture

Purges in other republics to consolidate USSR

Large scale internal exile labour camps, forced
labour Siberia

Growth of Germany > Berlin cature (1945)

27 million Soviet deaths, 1710 towns and 70,00
settlements destroyed , slave labour , Leningrad
loss
1917-1991
Cold War

Future of eastern Europe- conflict between
Truman and Stalin (buffer zone) > North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation and Warsaw Pact

1949 end of US nuclear monopoly ; proxy
conflicts (Korean War and Vietnam War)

Sphere of influence > complex international
relations > check proliferation of nuclear weaponry

Later years

Krushchev, collective leadership under
Brezhenev > economic reform of 1965
(introduction of capitalist methods of management,
increased independence of enterprise, use of
material incentives)

Leading producer and exporter of oil and natural
gas 1960s

Peak of Russian advancements in science and
industry- intensified efforts at space research
Gorbachev

openness in restructuring Soviet political and
economic system call for democratisation

Glasnost- transparency in functioning of public
institutions > access to information social
problems receiving wider attention

1989 loss of allies in eastern Europe

Low pricing of petroleum and natrual gas, Afghan
war, outdated industry and corruption > planned
economy turned ineffective

Price control > shortage of products in 1991

Yeltin election as chairman of Russian republic,
coup against Gorbachev , disintegration of the
Soviet Union

Only constituent that lacked instruments of
statehood that other republic had (trade union
councils, academy of sciences etc)

CP banned , refusal to adopt market reforms >
food rationing , price control lifted
1992 - present
Yeltsin

Cuts in state spending, open foreign trade regime > impact on living standards > hyperinflation

Chaotic legislature (93) Chechenya wars

WB, IMF largest and fastest privatisation > enterprises now under old managers

Structural problems in establishing a representative govt- struggle between president and
parliament and anarchic party system

Central govt no longer control over localities, bureaucracy and economic fiefdoms > collapse of
tax revenue > financial crash of 1998

Putin in 2000- issues in attracting FDI, large capital outflows, shrinking workforce corruption and
underinvestment in infrastructure

2006- growth of 6.7% - consumer demand resource rich base


Governance
Central govt > administrative divisions oblasti (regions), minority republics, okruga (autonomous
districts), kraya (territories) federal cities (Moscow and St Petersburg) and the one autonomous
oblast

Equal power to administrative divisions in the Federal Assembly

Power of divisions diluted in 200s with 7 federal distrcits established with presidential envoy

District presidential envoys power to implement federal law and co-ordinate communiction
between President and regional governors.

Regional governments inadequate tax revenue to support mandates on budgets

2004-President appoints regional governors (elected earlier)

Fedreral districts replace 11 traditional economic regional governments, particularly for statistical
purposes

City administrator appointed by regional governor city councils mayors and administrators replace
city soviets

Global ties
UN, APEC, OSEC, Council of Europe

European Union Common Spaces (Economic,
Security, Justice and Culture)

BRICS with India, ties related to energy,
research, and defense

Economic trajectory

EU membership - consolidation