An Analysis of Russia: Authoritarianism

   Over the last fifty years, there has only been one country that has truly posed a threat to the existence of the United States. There has only been one country that has rivaled the United States at every conceivable level. There has only been one country that evokes fear, awe, and hatred in the hearts of Americans. This country is Russia.
    The question of American-Russian relations has been the most important geopolitical question since 1945, when Nazi Germany was annihilated and Europe was partitioned between western, liberal democracies, and authoritarian, communist dictatorships. It will likely remain an important question for the foreseeable future. In order to understand this relationship, one must not only examine it from an American perspective, but also from a Russian perspective.
     It is tempting to frame the American-Russian relationship as a perennial ideological battleground, between a freedom-loving government in Washington D.C., and a harsh, oppressive regime in Moscow. It is therefore tempting for Americans to dream about a potential democratic revolution in Russia - in fact, the west did implement a democracy in Russia after the USSR fell. Nevertheless, Russia veered away from democracy with Yeltsin's resignation, and since then, the country has been under the rule of Putin. The reason why this occurred is not simply because Vladimir Putin is a power-hungry, ruthless despot, who wants to starve his people of freedom. Instead, a desire for strong, authoritarian leadership is ingrained within the Russian psyche.
    The basis for democratic thought never actually reached Russia. Democracy's foundations were laid during the renaissance during the 1400s, where people began to question what they were told and developed a more humanistic, as opposed to religiously centered, outlook on life. But during the 1400s, Russia wasn't even ruled by Russians. Instead, it had been swept up in Mongol invasions, and was under the rule of the Golden Horde. This was not a particularly positive environment for the spread of new ideas - not to mention the fact that the center of the renaissance was in Italy, thousands of kilometers away from major Russian cities such as Kiev and Moscow.
    Instead of an enlightened monarch or republican statesman, the first leader of what can truly be called "Russia" (as opposed to fringe city-states and kingdoms on the edge of Mongolian or Turkish domains) was Ivan the Terrible. Note that in this context, "terrible" lines up more with the old English definition of "fearsome" or "powerful", rather than evil. Ivan the Terrible ruled Russia with an iron fist - when rumors arose that Novgorod would defect to Poland, Ivan sent in his private army and sacked the city, killing somewhere around 10,000 people. Ivan was also a fierce leader when it came to foreign policy - he conquered several khanates and increased the size of Russia by a vast amount.
   After Ivan came a string of weak-willed leaders, leading to a period of chaos often referred to in Russia as "the Time of Troubles". During this time, Russia suffered several uprisings, and lost 1/3 of her people in a deadly famine. The Russian state was brought to the brink of collapse - foreign nations were launching invasions, pretenders to the throne were everywhere, and while European countries set up stable, powerful, globe-spanning empires, Russia was mired in bloody infighting.  This chaotic period lasted roughly until Peter the Great came to power in the late 1600s. Peter the Great immediately set about bringing Russia into the modern era- he recruited experts from the west to help build Russia a stronger navy, and he reorganized the Russian army to western standards. He also conquered the Baltic coast from Sweden during the Great Northern War, and built the city of Saint Petersburg on the coast, using it as a "Window to the West". However, Peter the Great also was forced to rule with a heavy hand in order to modernize his country. He imposed heavy taxes and regulations on the boyars (nobility), and even imposed a tax on beards, viewing them as crude and un-European. He also imposed state control on the Orthodox Church, further consolidating power within the Russian state. Peter the Great also expanded Russia, waging successful wars with Sweden, Turkey, and Poland.
    Strong, iron-fisted monarchs continued to rule Russia. Catherine the Great ruled for much of the late 1700s, and during her rule, the Pugachev rebellion (essentially an out of control peasant's revolt) was brutally suppressed. Russia also continued to expand, colonizing Siberia and taking more territory from the slowly-declining Ottoman Empire. This authoritarian leadership was relatively successful throughout the 1800s - Russia was stable compared to its past, and rapidly expanding. In 1812, Russian forces were able to decisively defeat Napoleon, beating back his ill-fated invasion. By 1814, Russian troops were marching through Paris, and Napoleon was defeated. But the arrival of the 1900s brought misery and defeat. In 1905, Russia was humiliated in the Russo-Japanese war, which marked the first instance where an Asian power defeated a European power. A large revolt followed, which forced Tsar Nicholas II to reduce his power and implement a new constitution. In 1914, disaster struck with the outbreak of World War I. German troops humiliated the Russian army at Tannenberg, and the Brusilov offensive, while successful in breaking the back of the Austro-Hungarian army, resulted in huge casualties for the Russian army. The war grew increasingly unpopular, and by 1917, Russia was at a breaking point. The February Revolution (which actually took place in March - Russia used the Julian calendar) resulted in Tsar Nicholas II abdicating the throne, and the formation of the short-lived provisional republic under Alexander Kerensky. Kerensky, however, continued Russia's involvement in World War I, much to the dismay of the Russian people. Moreover, the Russian Republic was corrupt, and did not resolve any of the peasant's complaints with regards to land ownership.
     In November, the Bolsheviks struck, occupying key buildings in Petrograd (the Russian capital) and forming the Russian Soviet Republic, under the rule of Vladimir Lenin. A bloody, five year civil war followed, with the Soviet Red Army fighting against the anti-Bolshevik White Army. This civil war killed around 10 million people, and resulted in widespread destruction across huge swaths of Russian territory. By 1922, the Bolsheviks emerged victorious, and over the course of the next 60 or so years, Russia would be ruled by an authoritarian, single party, communist state. The degree of central power varied - Joseph Stalin, who ruled from 1924-1953, was a brute who killed anywhere from 20-25 million of his own people, but he also led the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and made the USSR an industrial superpower. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier from 1955-1964, was no Stalin, but the KGB was still a force to be feared, and Khrushchev had potential rivals (such as Laventry Beria) executed.  During this time, Russia was fairly stable. There were power struggles, but no major civil wars, like that of China, and as long as the average citizen stayed in line, they could live a decent life. However, the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev, with its promises of reform, ended this authoritarian stability. By 1989, Russia's control in Eastern Europe begun to erode, and by late 1991, the chaos had reached Moscow. A failed coup attempt was the final nail in the coffin for the Soviet Union, and on December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union officially dissolved.
    This left Russia under democratic rule, for the first time in its long history. But the period between 1991 and 2000 was one of Russia's worst - a modern equivalent of the "time of troubles". Russia's economy was destroyed, with high inflation and negative growth. NATO expanded its reach into previously Soviet-dominated lands - Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic - and wars raged in Chechnya and Central Asia. Yeltsin was widely seen as a drunk, incompetent, corrupt, fraudulent western puppet. Yeltsin resigned on December 31, 1999, and Vladimir Putin came to power.
    Putin does not care about democracy, nor do the Russian people. The lessons of 1991-1999 are fresh in the minds of the Russian conscience, and not very many Russians want to return to that time. The Russian people are oriented towards stability, and Putin has provided exactly that. Chechnya has been subdued, and Russia's economy is growing again. Inflation is under control. Compared to previous Russian leaders, Putin has played a role in the deaths of a handful of journalists, but has not slaughtered millions in the ways of Lenin or Stalin. By killing outspoken critics, Putin is offering a simple message to his people - stay in line, and you will be fine. And the Russian people are more than happy to accept this deal - the idea of a power vacuum if Putin is removed from office is terrifying. The thought of a democratic "revolution" is even more terrifying - the revolutions of 1917 resulted in a civil war which killed millions, and a revolution in the modern age could result in similar war and bloodshed.
   The Russian people are not an oppressed people yearning for freedom. They are instead weary of weak rulers, and the chaos that occurs when Russia is not ruled by a strong, authoritarian figure. For this reason, Putin and other authoritarian figures will always thrive in Russia. In the near future, Russia will always be an authoritarian, illiberal state, and the Russian people will be content. America would be supremely ignorant to presume otherwise.