Russia term 2

Nomenklatura

A system of personnel selection in the Soviet period under which the Communist Party maintained control over the appointment of important officials in all spheres of social, economic, and political life.

Oligarchs

A small group of powerful and wealthy individuals who gained ownership and control of important sectors of Russia’s economy in the context of privatization of state assets in the 1990s.

Patrimonial State

A system of governance in which the ruler treats the state as personal property (patrimony).

Power Vertical

A term used by Vladimir Putin to describe a unified and hierarchical structure of executive power ranging from the national to the local level.

Siloviki

Derived from the Russian word sil, meaning “force,” Russian politicians and governmental officials drawn from the security and intelligence agencies, special forces, or the military, many of whom were recruited to important political posts under Vladimir Putin.

Soft Authoritarianism

A system of political control in which a combination of formal and informal mechanisms ensure the dominance of a ruling group or dominant party, despite the existence of some forms of political competition and expressions of political opposition.

Sovereign Democracy

A concept of democracy articulated by President Putin’s political advisor, Vladimir Surkov, to communicate the idea that democracy in Russia should be adapted to Russian traditions and conditions rather than based on Western models.

Vanguard party

A political party that claims to operate in the “true” interests of the group or class that it purports to represent, even if this understanding doesn’t correspond to the expressed interests of the group itself.