short Analytical Essay

This is the upload location for second analytical essay. It should be a two-page, double-spaced essay that opens with the following paragraph.

 

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union between 1989-1991, Russia emerged as a nominal democracy. Few expected Russia’s transition to democratic rule to be easy since the country lacked any democratic tradition. As expected, the transition has not been smooth and instead of the consolidation of democratic norms – such as the rule of law, Russia has seen the resurgence of its more traditional authoritarian forms of governance. However, it has not entirely moved back towards a full-fledged authoritarian regime. Relatively free elections do take place, Russians are free to travel and some opposition is allowed. This is has led political scientists to classify Russia as a hybrid regime. A hybrid regime is defined as containing elements of both democratic and authoritarian systems. In this short essay, my objective is to identify these contrasting elements. In the first paragraph, I specify the democratic elements that still exist in Russia and then in the second paragraph I elaborate on the more authoritarian elements that characterize the political system. Finally, I conclude by arguing that Russia is more _________ than _________.

Your second paragraph (first body paragraph) should identify democratic elements in contemporary Russia. Your third paragraph (second body paragraph) should identify the authoritarian elements in contemporary Russia. The fourth paragraph will be your conclusion. Begin your conclusion with the statement, “Russia is more _____________ than ___________” (you will fill in the blanks with “authoritarian” and “democratic” or “democratic” and “authoritarian”). Complete the conclusion by specifying why you believe that to be so. Make sure the conclusion reiterates the main points or positions of the body paragraphs in a way that is not repetitive.

Note that your essay should only have four paragraphs, the first of which is already written for you. The writing prompts (i.e. “What are the democratic elements in Russia’s political system?”) provide you with an outline for the three remaining paragraphs and should not be included as subheadings or otherwise.

Both the textbook (do not cite or use the textbook as a reference, however) and the  articles assigned for this week are good preparatory materials for hybrid regimes. When you compose this essay, however, you will need to include specific examples from Russian politics. All of your examples should be cited, and they all should come from the readings attached. There is no need to perform internet searches or to click through Wikipedia links. We want you to demonstrate that you can master the readings included here.

 

References Should Look Like This:

If you place them in the text, they should be incorporated in this way. According to John Smith (1999, p. 3) …. or Increased trade has resulted in …. earning more income from its exports (Bauer, 2003, pp. 20-23). The full citation of the reference – book, article, newspaper source is placed at the end of the paper as a bibliography. For example, John Smith 1999. The Cost of Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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