Global Studies II

Unit II Russia

Name ______________________________
Date ____________
Russian Democracy Has Disappeared?
- Clifford J. Levy, New York Times

Directions: After reading the article mentioned above, answer the questions below. Please
answer in complete sentence format.
1. What is human rights? According to the author, identify human rights issues the current
political regime in Russia have violated.
Human rights are the rights that the people in that country are allowed to do and are free to do.
Letting gays be free and not put them in jail and people having their own opinions.

2. Identify political corruption issues Mr. Levy identifies in Russia today.

There are a lot of legal problems and different level of problems to the Russian citizens and the
way that Putin does things.

3. How does Mr. Gorbechev, the previous Russian premier, feel about the current leaders? Why
does he feel this way?
He doesnt like Putin and the way he is running Russia and how is running the Democracy.

4. The caption for the picture on page one is titled, Batman and Robin. Explain this caption.
Because he allied with Dmitri Mededev and when the elections came around they wanted to make
sure that Putin had a good chance of winning.

5. According to the author [and Mr. Gorbechev, democracy begins with:

_Elections_____________________,
and __turnover______________.

Accountability ______________________,

6. In addition to the aspects of democracy identified above, which other key ingredient is
necessary for a democracy? According to the author, how does Russia meet this ingredient?
Back up your answer with facts.
Respect the rule of the law is used for a Democratic state and a great key to it. They are
constantly trying to meet the rules of the government.

7. Identify two cases the author identifies where the Russian government has failed the
democratic test.
He was a billionaire and he offered an assistant to other countries and tried to help them and also
was head of the Oil Company.