Russia Vocabulary

Anarchism

Radical ideology seeking to overthrow all conventional forms of government.

Apparatchik

"Man of the apparatus"; full-time CPSU functionary.

Asset stripping

Selling off firm's property and raw materials for short-term profit.

Authoritarianism

Dictatorial rejection of democracy, but milder than totalitarianism.

Autocracy

Absolute rule of one person in a centralized state.

Bolshevik

"Majority" in Russian; early name for Soviet Communist Party

Caesaropapism

Combining the top civil ruler (caesar) with the top spiritual ruler (pope), as in Russia's tsars.

Capital goods

Implements used to make other things.

Caucasus

Mountainous region between Black and Caspian seas.

Central Asia

Region between Caspian Sea and China.

Central Committee

Large, next-to-top governing body of most Communist parties.

Civil society

Associations larger than the family but not part of government, and the pluralistic values that come with them.

Cold war

Period of armed tension and competition between the US and the Soviet Union, approximately 1947-1989.

Communism

Economic theories of Marx combined with organization of Lenin.

Constantinople

Capital of Byzantium, conquered by Turks in 1453.

Consumer goods

Things people use, such as food, clothing, and housing.

Contradiction

In Marxism, a big, incurable problem that rips the system apart (current equivalent: dysfunction).

CPSU

Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Cult of personality

Personal glorification of a dictator.

Current account balance

A country's exports minus its imports.

Cyrillic

Greek-based alphabet of Eastern Slavic languages.

Default

Country announces that it cannot pay back a loan.

Duma

Russia's national parliament.

Exclave

Part of country separated from main territory.

Five-Year Plans

Stalin's forced industrialization of the Soviet Union, starting in 1928.

Flight capital

Money that the owner sends out of the country for fear of losing it.

Gensek

Russian abbreviation for "general secretary"; powerful CPSU chief.

Geopolitics

Influence of geography on politics and use of geography for strategic ends.

Glasnost

Gorbachev's policy of media openness.

Gosplan

Soviet central economic planning agency.

Gulag

The Soviet central prisons administration.

Hard currency

Noninflating, recognized currencies used in international dealings, such as dollars and euros.

Imperialism

Powerful countries turning other lands into colonies.

Infant Mortality rate

Number of live newborns who die in their first year, per thousand; standard measure of nation's health.

Input-output table

Spreadsheet for economy of entire nation.

Kleptocracy

Rule by thieves.

Middle way

Supposed blend of capitalism and socialism; also called "third way."

Narodniki

From Russian for "people," narod; radical populist agitators of late nineteenth-century Russia.

New Economic Policy

Lenin's economic policy that allowed private activity, 1921-1928.

Nomenklatura

List of sensitive positions and people eligible to fill them, the Soviet elite.

North Caucasus

Mountainous region north of Georgia and Azerbaijan, including Chechnya.

Oligarchy

Rule by a few.

Paranoia

Unreasonable suspicion of others.

Perestroika

Russian for "restructuring"; Gorbachev's proposals to reform the Soviet economy.

Politburo

"Political bureau"; small, top governing body of most Communist parties.

Proletariat

According to Marx, class of industrial workers.

Public finances

What a government takes in, what it spends, and how it makes up the difference.

Purge

Stalin's "cleansing" of suspicious elements by firing squad.

Republic

First-order civil division of Communist federal systems, equivalent to U.S. states.

Rump state

Leftover portions of a country after dismemberment

Runaway system

Influential people use their resources to amass more resources.

Shock therapy

Sudden replacement of socialist economy by market economy.

Socialize

To teach political culture, often informally.

Siberia

That part of Russia east of the Ural Mountains.

Siloviki

"Strong men"; security officials who now control Russia (singular silovik).

Slavophiles

Nineteenth-century Russians who wished to develop Russia along native, non-Western lines; also known as "Russophiles."

State Duma

Lower house of Russia's parliament.

Tatar

Mongol-origin tribes who ruled Russia for centuries. (Not Tartar.)

Totalitarianism

Attempts to totally control society, as under Stalin and Hitler.

Tsar

From "caesar"; Russia's emperor; sometimes spelled old Polish style, czar.

Tyranny

Coercive rule, usually by one person.

Ukraine

From Slavic for "borderland"; country south of Russia

War communism

Temporary strict socialism in Russia, 1918-1921.

Weak state

One unable to govern effectively; corrupt and crime-ridden.

Westernizers

Nineteenth-century Russians who wished to copy the West.

Zemstvo

Local parliament in old Russia.