State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 7th Convocation: Between “Sleeping Potential” and Party Discipline

In the run-up to the elections of 18 September 2016, suggestions were made that a change in the rules for electing the State Duma (a return to a mixed majority-proportional system) would affect the qualitative composition of the deputy corps.^11. See for example Kynev, Lyubarev, Maximov 2015; Mintusov (ed.) 2016; Mixed districts 2016. Today, a year since the Duma campaign, we already have sufficient information to move from hypothetical arguments to a specific study not only of the composition, but also the style of work of the new parliament.

Existing data allow us to say that two different tendencies exist in the Duma. One of them is connected with the change in the composition of the deputy corps, caused by the addition of a majority component, which has influenced the principles of selecting candidates, and by a number of other causes—from the assumption of a low turn-out to the emergence of new bans and restrictions in legislation. Another involves the change in style of work of the lower chamber of the Federal Assembly. Besides efforts directly toward reducing scandalous behavior and overcoming the reputation of a “maniacal printer,” this concerns attempts by the leadership of the Duma in general and individual parliamentary groups to regulate and centralize the lawmaking process as much as possible. If the first tendency involves increasing political independence of deputies (as a consequence of the increase of the importance of their personal qualities at elections), the second means an even greater reduction of their influence on decisions taken by the Duma. This article provides a detailed analysis of these tendencies.     

The Soldiers Did Not Know Why They Were Sent to Chechnya

The soldiers did not know why they were sent to Chechnya, believes Vladimir Bauer, chairman of the Committee on the Organization of the Work of the State Duma, who visited Chechnya and Ingushetia at the head of a Duma committee of observers.     

It's High Time We Understood Russia with Our Heads: Interview with Aleksandr Lebed

Aleksandr Lebed, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, visited Literaturnaia gazeta a few days ago, but it feels as if at least a month has gone by. In the few days since our meeting, Aleksandr Lebed has become the target of militants in the Duma headed by a general from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, one who certainly achieved no glory on the Chechen battlefields, and hence attempted to exact his revenge from the podium of the State Duma to the accompaniment of stormy applause from the Communists; as for the latter, one never knows whether they want war or peace.     

The Politics and the Demographics of Veganism: Notes for a Critical Analysis

The present essay aims to offer some reflections concerning the cultural and political aspects of veganism, on the basis of the available surveys and statistics, plus some more gathered by the authors—with the tools of different methodologies, including the semiotic one. After an introduction to veganism as phenomenon and movement, with general reflections and also a number of specific data, the essay proceeds to focus on the more political aspects, with an emphasis on some of the most intriguing and multifaceted data, such as the prevalence of female gender, leftist political inclinations and atheism within the vegan community. While the first connection has already been widely discussed (and to our mind, proved) since the times of Adams (The sexual politics of meat: a feminist-vegetarian critical theory, Continuum, New York, 1990), much less has been said (particularly at academic level) about the significance leftist ideologies and atheism within veganism. Moreover, within the domain of semiotics, this topic is entirely unexplored.     

The Kremlin and the Government Do Not Agree with the Duma

At the last session of the Duma, the deputies adopted amendments to the law on local self-government, allowing the reform, against which the governors have as a body been actively speaking out recently, to be "forgotten" for a time by the regions.     

Will We Be Able to Stop It?

The ability to effectively oppose political extremism will be helped by a law that the Duma has begun to consider.     

Death penalty politics and symbolic law in Russia

In contemporary Russia there is widespread support for the death penalty. Recent Russian presidents have endorsed the nation’s entry into the European Community (EC). The dilemma is that the price of membership into the EC is total abolition of capital punishment. The Russian Duma is much less popular than the president, even though it sides with public opinion in supporting capital punishment. Since 1997, these conflicting political positions have been temporarily neutralized by leaving capital punishment legislation in place but allowing the Russian president to offer clemency to all sentenced to death. In 1999, the Constitutional Court of Russia placed a moratorium on all death sentences until jury trials are re-introduced throughout the nation.     

Presidential Support in the Russian State Duma

Recent comparative research on presidential systems has analyzed the ways in which presidents build majorities for their legislative agendas. Through an analysis of roll‐call votes from the 2000‐03 Russian State Duma on a set of issues reflecting President Putin's legislative agenda, I examine the impact of parliamentary party affiliation, policy preferences, issue type, and electoral mandate type on structuring floor support for the president. I also assess the implications of a mixed electoral system for building legislative coalitions in multiparty legislatures. Further, my findings shed light on Putin's recent reforms of the Duma's rules and procedures and the country's electoral system.     

Gennady Korepanov: "We Are Obliged to Guard Russian Citizens Against Cruelty"

The speaker of the Tiumen Oblast Duma Sergei Korepanov argues that the chief tasks of the police reform are to forewarn citizens about possible crimes and to prepare a new kind of police.     

The ICC and Russian Constitutional Problems

The Statute of the International Criminal Court (the ICC Statute)has not yet been submitted to the Russian parliamentary chambers,the Duma, and the Council of the Federation. However, an Inter-AgencyPanel led by the Ministry of Justice has been set up, with aview to drafting amendments to current Russian legislation andfacilitating Russia's cooperation with the ICC. Major problemsstanding in the way of Russia's ratification include certainprovisions of Russia's Constitution, which, for instance, donot provide for an international court substituting nationalcourts, and lay down the right to jury trial and the right toseek pardon. However, there are various ways of reconcilingthe Constitution with the ICC Statute. In short, there are noinsurmountable legal hurdles to harmonizing the Russian Constitutionand laws with the ICC Statute: the question of Russia's ratificationis mostly a question of political will.     

Reform at a Half Year from Readiness,or What Exactly "Independence in the Resolution of Questions of Local Significance" Is Going to Mean

The heat of the discussion on the coming municipal reform has reached a high point. Evidence of this can be found, in particular, in what happened in the Kaliningrad State Council. Unfortunately, the time until the start of the active phase of the reform—on January 1, 2006—is growing smaller and smaller, while the number of questions that need to be resolved is not diminishing, and is even increasing. On July 8, the State Duma is to consider a law concerning the date for the beginning of the reform. And from all indications, the deputies will not be hurrying it.     

The Internet as a New Factor in State and Public Development

On 14 March, when the State Duma introduced a bill that would have instituted a moratorium on executions, it almost had to dissolve itself—not completely, of course, for a quorum was maintained, but almost. Before the bill was put up for discussion, the LDPR [Liberal Democratic Party of Russia] faction (50 people) left (on private business), and during the final vote 193 deputies abstained; whether they went for a walk or simply stayed in their seats but did not press the button is unknown, but they refused to deal with one of the questions that is most important for Russia's future (there were 176 votes "against" and 75 "for" the bill).     

The Place of Local Power

What is the reform of local self-government? How will its conduct affect the life of the country? How will the tax and social policies of the state change? The main author of the reform, deputy head of the President's Administration Dmitry Kozak, participating in the "Business Breakfast" at Rossiiskaia gazeta, talks about this on the eve of the second reading in the Duma of the packet of draft laws on the reform of federative relationships and of local self-government.     

Terrorism Risk Forecasting by Ideology

The purpose of the present study is to produce foresights on terrorism. For the first time in the literature, we test the predictive validity of risk terrain modeling to forecast terrorism. Because the relevant literature suggests that target selection and the places where terrorist attacks occur are related to a group’s strategies, we also investigate whether and how violent terrorist acts vary with respect to their surroundings in the same jurisdiction when the ideology is the point of comparison. Separatist and leftist terrorist groups committed 1152 violent terrorist acts between 2008 and 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. Our analysis begins with a comparison of targets and risk factors by the ideology of the perpetrators for 857 separatist and 295 leftist terrorist incidents. After identifying high-risk locations, we test the predictive validity of risk terrain modeling. The study results showed that context and spatial influence—the risky areas of terrorism—vary by the nature of the ideology in the jurisdiction. Practical implications also are discussed.     

Paradise Lost...: The Meaning of Modernity and the Antinomy of the Law

This essay argues for the centrality of the study of paradoxes of particularity and universality in the interface between law and politics in modernity. Particularly, in order to understand the process of constitution of a political collective and the role of supernumerary elements that re-enter a constituted legal-political system. After introducing the question of paradoxes or antinomies in the relation between law and politics in modernity, the essay engages with current understandings of exceptionalism and the possibility of a leftist or ‘real’ suspension of the law. In order to do so, this essay makes full use of certain theoretical tools developed in anthropological accounts of political and legal processes, and current French-oriented and Latin American political philosophy.     

Invisible Politics: Institutional Incentives and Legislative Alignments in the Russian Duma, 1996–99

Previous analysis of legislative voting has focused on the behavior of nominal legislative parties, regardless of whether the country under examination was an established democracy or a newly democratized country. This approach is inadequate for countries with young party systems. To establish the extent to which legislative coalitions are party based, scholars must allow for the possibility that institutional incentives predominate over party influence. For this study, I applied a Bayesian discrete latent variable method to identify the legislative coalitions in the 1996‐99 Duma. I found that legislative alignments cut across party lines: electoral incentives and support for the president contribute to divides within parties that lack coherent platforms. Here I present a novel methodological approach to the identification of intraparty divisions and the major determinants of legislative coalitions in many legislative settings. This approach allows a comparison of the importance of party influence relative to other institutional incentives. It is especially useful for analyzing legislative voting in young party systems and where constitutional frameworks and electoral systems subject legislators to competing pressures.     

Tobacco: a product like any other?

Legislation in most countries regulates trade in poisons and highly addictive products, such as narcotics. The statements that (1) tobacco harms health and (2) causes addiction are established as facts in international and national law. Yet in Russia, and in many other countries, there is a contradiction between the open sale of this addictive poison and basic laws, such as those on product safety. Provisions in both the Russian constitution and the criminal code can be interpreted as making the sale of tobacco illegal, setting out severe penalties for those involved. Yet, remarkably, tobacco is treated quite differently from other products. In this paper, we describe the experience so far in seeking to enforce this legislation in Russia. Attempts to persuade the police to enforce the legislation have been unsuccessful, although they accept that there is a prima facie case for action but, in private, express fear of taking it. The case for action is currently being argued before the Russian Supreme Court but this could take many years to reach a conclusion. In the mean time, new legislation on the regulation of tobacco production has been passed by the State Duma, with the support of the tobacco industry, which implicitly assumes that tobacco is a lawful product, thereby creating legal confusion. We argue that the only way to redress this situation is to recognize that tobacco production and sales must be regulated in the same way as any other harmful and addictive substance.     

The Swiss Upper House: ‘Chambre de Réflexion’ or Conservative Renegades?

Theoretical analyses suggest that bicameral systems have policy consequences if the preferences of the two chambers differ. This paper offers an analysis of the ideological positions of the MPs in the two chambers of the Swiss parliament. Contrary to conventional wisdom the analyses relying on MP surveys and roll call analyses suggest that the MPs of the same party hardly differ with respect to their ideological positions. While the MP survey suggests that the Swiss upper house is more conservative given the underrepresentation of leftist parties in the latter chamber, similar differences fail to appear in the roll call analyses in a systematic way. Hence, the Swiss upper house is hardly a conservative bastion.     

Duma-2014 Report

Why do hybrid regimes imitate democratic institutions? Do they serve exclusively as a showy formality for the external, mainly Western, audiences or do they perform some substantive functions within the framework of a political system? Within the broader context of diffusion of ideas across countries, the author of this paper explains the nature of the Russian State Duma, which, over the last 10 years, has become a kind of administrative stock exchange for the Russian political elites, and challenges the common simplistic view of the current Russian legislative process as “rubber-stamping” orchestrated by the executive branch.     

中俄继承法若干问题比较

俄罗斯民法典第三部分于 2 0 0 1年 11月 1日在国家杜马通过 ,2 0 0 2年 11月 14日经联邦委员会批准。该法典的继承编用 5章 75条对继承权进行了规定 ,其对遗产范围的确定、法定继承人的顺序、接受和放弃继承的期限、遗产的执行和管理以及特殊形式遗产的继承等方面都规定得较为详细 ,且与我国现行继承法有较大差异。中国现行的继承法制定得比较早 ,对继承法存在的问题以及解决的途径不少学者已经进行了研究。为此 ,在介绍俄罗斯民法典继承编规定的同时 ,将其与我国现行继承法进行比较 ,以期对今后我国继承法的修订有所参考和借鉴。