Russia Essays -- History, Politics, Boris Yeltsin

Russia, an Eastern European country held under Soviet control in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. However, Soviet control would later on collapse in December 1991, as the nation started transitioning towards democracy. Although Russia would transition from socialist to democratic, it was actually a time of political instability with direct military involvement and public widespread protest. A time in which, President Boris Yeltsin (executive) was in a heated confrontation with the Russian Parliament (legislature formerly formed by the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Soviet) towards legitimate government authority between executive-legislative relations through amending the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, it is remembered throughout history as the Constitutional Crisis of 1993 that many political analysts observed the events that took place before the actual crisis to explain, why the nation faced political instability during the pro cess of democratization. It all began to take root on early January of 1992 as Boris Yeltsin, who was faced with â€Å"One of the most urgent challenges†¦for rescuing the sinking Russian economy† (Breslauer 2002: 153), as he took the initiative to put into effect his economic reform to alleviate the economy. Consequently, it caused many industries to go out of business as prices soon began to skyrocket, which caused spending to take a drastic downturn and taxes to escalate further. Soon afterwards Yeltsin’s reform began to be viewed as being too radical which caught Parliament’s attention for his actions being somewhat â€Å"unconstitutional† because â€Å"He was an autocrat who, without regard to formal constraints†¦acted in unpredictable ways to achieve his goals† (Rose... ...ocess of democratization? First, it started when Boris Yeltsin brought in a free market economic reform, but Parliament viewed it being too radical, which influenced their decision to deny the reframing of the constitution. It then led to a series of clashes throughout 1992-1993 as executive-legislative relations struggle for legitimate authority of the nation. Then, it came to a climax as the masses led a widespread protest towards the unstable conditions of the government, which escalated into a merciless conflict. Finally, it came to a resolution with Yelstin’s commanding the army to shoot down the Parliament White House, which led to their inevitable defeat and Yeltsin’s victory. At last, these events explain the political instability within the nation because Yeltsin struggled to transition towards Democracy, while Parliament wanted to retain Soviet values.