Russia has pretty much ALWAYS had an autocratic government. Whether it be the Monarchist Czars, the Communist Bolsheviks, or the Authoritarian Vladimir Putin.
A little history lesson about Russia.
Russia was officially formed in 1547 when the Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) had himself crowned the first Tsar of a unified Russia. In all that time since, Russia has only ever had TWO instances of Limited Government.
The first time was the short lived Russian Republic which existed from the Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on March 15th, 1917 to the Bolshevik seizure of Power on November 7th, 1917.
The second time was during the Presidency of Boris Yeltsin which lasted from the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 25th, 1991 to the ascension of Vladimir Putin on December 31st, 1999.
What does all this mean? It means don’t expect Russia to become a paragon of Democracy anytime soon. They are so used to autocracy that they simply don’t care about liberty and democracy.
Russia has pretty much ALWAYS had an autocratic government. Whether it be the Monarchist Czars, the Communist Bolsheviks, or the Authoritarian Vladimir Putin.
A little history lesson about Russia.
Russia was officially formed in 1547 when the Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) had himself crowned the first Tsar of a unified Russia. In all that time since, Russia has only had TWO instances of Limited Government.
The first time was the short lived Russian Republic which existed from the Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on March 15th, 1917 to the Bolshevik seizure of Power on November 7th, 1917.
The second time was during the Presidency of Boris Yeltsin which lasted from the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 25th, 1991 to the ascension of Vladimir Putin on December 31st, 1999.
What does all this mean? It means don’t expect Russia to become a paragon of Democracy anytime soon. They are so used to autocracy that they simply don’t care about liberty and democracy.
Russia has pretty much ALWAYS had an autocratic government. Whether it be the Monarchist Czars, the Communist Bolsheviks, or the Authoritarian Vladimir Putin.
A little history lesson about Russia.
Russia was officially formed in 1547 when the Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) had himself crowned the Tsar of Russia. In all that time since, Russia has only had TWO instances of Limited Government.
The first time was the short lived Russian Republic which existed from the Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on March 15th, 1917 to the Bolshevik seizure of Power on November 7th, 1917.
The second time was during the Presidency of Boris Yeltsin which lasted from the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 25th, 1991 to the ascension of Vladimir Putin on December 31st, 1999.
What does all this mean? It means don’t expect Russia to become a paragon of Democracy anytime soon. They are so used to autocracy that they simply don’t care about liberty and democracy.
Russia has pretty much ALWAYS had an autocratic government.
A little history lesson:
Russia was officially formed in 1547 when the Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) has himself crowned the Tsar of Russia. In all that time since, Russia has only had TWO instances of Limited Government.
The first time was the short lived Russian Republic which existed from the Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on March 15th, 1917 to the Bolshevik seizure of Power on November 7th, 1917.
The second time was during the Presidency of Boris Yeltsin which lasted from the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 25th, 1991 to the ascension of Vladimir Putin to the Presidency on December 31st, 1999.