Adams Brooke Writing Sample

Democracy in Russia is a fairly new concept and a concept that many of the citizens
struggle feeling as if democracy had not yet been realized in their country yet, there began a
movement to reform the government. This movement began relatively small, but as a result of
many factors such as the Internet, the recent Arab Spring, a glaring example of a corrupt
government i.e the rigged elections, people mobilized and massive protests broke out that
demanded a democratic government of Russia. This paper will examine the history that
contributed to the protests, the tactics of the protestors, the mobilization of resources, as well as
where the protest movement is now. While the protests did bring about an amount of change,
very little of the protestor’s demands came to fruition.
The 2011 Duma election protests broke out because of what was largely seen as election
fraud. The results were widely seen as rigged as Vladimir Putin and his party United Russia had
won a majority. In the days after the results tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Moscow
to voice their discontent. Smaller protests also took place in cities across the country. They were
largely peaceful protests and as result, at least in the early days and in some parts of the country,
the protesters were not arrested or hurt in anyway. As seen in other protests, those who
participated in the protests were mostly young people who wanted a better future for themselves
and for generations to come1.
The fact that the protests consisted of mostly younger people is an important reason as to
why the movement garnered the numbers that it did and played a part into why it happened when
it did. Russia has such a tumultuous history that a lot of what happened in the past, like most of
1 Barry,Ellen. "Tens of Thousands Protest in Moscow, Russia,in Defianceof Putin - NYTimes.Com." The New York
Times December 10 2011.Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/world/europe/thousands -protest-in-
moscow-russia-in-defiance-of-putin.html?pagewanted=all>.

the time, has a profound effect on the future. Combine this with the fact that a lot of major events
have taken place in the not too distant past, it makes for an interesting parallel between the
generation that remembered the fall of the Soviet Union well and the young generation most of
whom were just being born in that time period.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s Boris Yeltsin became the first
democratically elected leader of Russia. One of things he wanted to do was bring reforms to the
country that would allow for more freedoms for the people. An article from the Washington Post
gives a brief overview of how the programs he tried to instill in Russia seemed to cause more
hurt than help,
“Millions of Russians went abroad for the first time, voted in elections and learned to rely
on themselves rather than the state. But they were disappointed when democracy did not
bring prosperity. The early reforms of the 1990s were painful for the elderly, the infirm
and those unable to adapt rapidly to the staggering changes. Death rates, suicides,
alcoholism, joblessness, prices and crime soared. Birth rates, pensions, health-care
standards, factory output and state support for kindergartens and social welfare programs
fell dizzyingly.” 2
Besides these problems that Yeltsin’s reforms brought to Russia, the consequences from the fall
of the Soviet Union also gave way to political problems that still effect much of Russia’s
decision making today. Yeltsin signed a treaty that “effectively rendered the Soviet Union
extinct, leaving 15 newly independent states, including Yeltsin's Russia. Twenty-five million
2 Hockstader, Lee. "Rough-Hewn Father of Russian Democracy."The Washington PostApril 24 2007.Web.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042300524.html>.

ethnic Russians found themselves stranded outside Russia's border” 3. These new independent
states include Georgia and Ukraine, two countries that would later face their own revolutions
which would highly influence the protests of 2011 in Russia. Not only is the fact that the Soviet
Union splitting into so many different states important to what was happening in 2011 and even
current times, but also the aftermath of what such seemingly failed reforms. Yeltsin resigned
from office on New Year’s Day in 2000 and named Vladimir Putin his successor until elections
were held4. Putin would go on to win the election in March 2000 narrowly and from that point on
create an authoritarian regime where he is still in power to this day.
All this helps put into context the thoughts and feelings the Russian people had with
Putin prior to 2011. In the early days Putin’s power he was widely popular, he seemed to have
stabilized the Russian economy from the Yeltsin years and he seemingly won the war in
Chechnya. People saw him as a strong leader and liked that5. However, soon the realization of
just how authoritarian his government had become became clear to the Russian people. Protests
happened in the past, but none as widely supported as the ones that occurred in December 2011.
The discontent of the Russian people toward the government had been growing in recent
year, especially when it came to the electoral process. In the years leading up to the 2011 Duma
elections, the Russian government had changed electoral laws to give them an advantage. One of
these changes “eliminated single-member constituencies and with them the possibility of electing
independent candidates”6. This would be enough for anybody to be displeased with their
3 Hockstader, Lee. "Rough-Hewn Father of Russian Democracy."The Washington PostApril 24 2007.Web.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042300524.html>.
4 Bohlen, Celestine. "YELTSIN RESIGNS: THE OVERVIEW; Yeltsin Resigns,Naming Putin as Acting Presidentto Run in
March Election " The New York Times January 1 2000.Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/01/world/yeltsin-
resigns-overview-yeltsin-resigns-naming-putin-acting-president-run-march.html>.
5 Ochoa,Zachary."Russia:The Democracy That Never Was."E-International Relations Students. December 23
2013.Web. <http://www.e-ir.info/2013/12/23/russia-the-democracy-that-never-was/>.
6 White, Stephen, and Ian McAllister."Did Russia (nearly) havea Facebook Revolution in 2011? Social Media's
Challengeto Authoritarianism."Politics34.1 (2014):72-84.WorldwidePolitical ScienceAbstracts.Web.

government. It was a glaring violation of the basic freedoms that they thought they deserved.
Another way that the government had been undermining the electoral process in the eyes of the
people is that the electoral commissions were seen as run by loyalists to Putin. A prime example
of this would be the Central Electoral Commissioner Vladimir Churov who had been quoted as
saying that “Putin is always right”7. This was again seen as a way for the Putin regime to have
undeniable power over all aspects of the electoral process making it very hard for an outsider or
anyone that was not seen as puppet of Putin to win elections. Finally, a lot of the election fraud
was seen as happening on the day of the election. People reported being pressured or sometimes
being bribed to vote a certain way. These examples of how corrupt the government became over
the years factor into why the population of Russia became more and more untrustworthy. One
statistic showed that in 2001 69% of the people thought that the election was fair, by 2011 only
53% people thought it was fair6. All of these things played a part in the protests that occurred in
2011 whether it be because it was a lighter fluid for a spark that was ready to ignite and drove
people to protest or because it related to what the protestor’s demanded for reform.
The protestor’s demands were relatively clear cut and reasonable given the
circumstances. First and foremost they demanded new and fair elections. Not an incredibly
outrageous demand considering the fraudulent election is what brought about the protests in the
first place. Some of the other demands that the protesters demanded was the resignation of
Vladimir Churov, an official investigation of vote fraud, and freedom of political prisoners. None
of these demands were met8. As a result of the protests the government began, “introducing
8 Bally,David."Russian Election Protests ? Saturday 10 December 2011 | World News | Guardian.Co.Uk." The
GuardianDecember 10 2011.Web.
<http://web.archive.org/web/20130114235300/http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/dec/10/russia -elections-
putin-protest>.

technologies like transparent ballot boxes and installing 180,000 Web cameras at polling
stations” several weeks later9. This was seen as an attempt to appease the protesters, but it did
not really work, the corrupt 2011 elections already took its toll on the Putin regime’s legitimacy.
Not only were the protesters calling for the government to take action towards change, but also
some of its former leaders. During the protests former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said
in an interview,
"I think they [Russia's leaders] can only take one decision - annul the results of the
election and hold a new one… Literally by the day, the number of Russians who do not
believe that the declared election results were honest is increasing…In my opinion,
disregard for public opinion is discrediting the authorities and destabilizing the
situation."10
This gave the protesters more support for their cause as they saw a former leader back their
actions and seconded their demands. However, Gorbachev’s call for new elections did not
materialize any real change.
Likewise, days after the protests took place the former president and now Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev called for new reforms to absolutely ensure fair elections. Part of these
reforms he called for would be a public television channel which would be free from government
influence and simplifying the procedures needed to run for office and register a political party11.
The legitimacy of his call for reforms is questionable because he is part of the government that is
9 Barry,Ellen. "After Election, Putin Faces Challenges to Legitmacy." The New York Times March 5 2012.Web.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/world/europe/observers-detail-flaws-in-russian-
election.html?pagewanted=all>.
10 " Russia Protests:Gorbachev Callsfor Election Re-Run." BBC News Europe December 7 2011.Web.
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16066061>.
11 "Russia:Medvedev Urges Bold Political Reforms."BBC News Europe December 22 2011. Web.
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16299093>.

seen to be incredibly corrupt. Also, he is one of the people who benefited from the elections
since Vladimir Putin and his party are the ones who approved Medvedev for the Prime Minister
position12. He did however keep his word on a trying to make a few of these reforms possible.
Some credit should be given to Medvedev as he did submit a bill to parliament that would allow
for direct election of regional governors as opposed to Putin’s law in 2004 that abolished direct
election in favor for Putin appointing regional governors13. Although this brings into question
just how fair those direct elections would be and if any real change would come about from
them.
Although the protestors had support on the surface from the leaders such as Gorbachev,
one thing they lacked was strong international support. Protests in the past such as those that
took place during the Arab Spring, most notably Egypt or Libya, and even more relevant to the
Russian protests, those in the post-Soviet states such as Georgia or Ukraine, had strong
international support especially from the United States14. This was not the case when it came to
the protests of the 2011 elections. U.S-Russian relations had always been fragile at best. With
history like the Cold War and present circumstances like the United States’ current standing in
the world after events like the Iraq War, it is easy to imagine that the United States wanted to
approach the Russian protests with caution. Besides saying that, “We urge the Russian
Government to conduct an independent, credible investigation of all reported electoral
violations”, but at the same time saying, The United States congratulates the Russian people on
the completion of the Presidential elections, and looks forward to working with the President-
12 "Medvedev Becomes Russia?sPM."The Voice of RussiaMay 8 2012.Web.
<http://sputniknews.com/voiceofrussia//2012_05_08/74129865/>.
13 "Russia's Medvedev Proposes DirectElections Of Governors." Radio Free Europe. January 16 2012.Web.
<http://www.rferl.org/content/russia_direct_election_regional_governors/24453264.html>.
14 Welt, Cory . "Georgia's Rose Revolution: From Regime Weakness to Regime Collapse". 2006,Center for Strategic
and International Studies.

elect.”15 the United States government remained largely silent on the matter, at least compared to
its actions such as giving military intervention, funding, or enacting sanctions on a corrupt
government. It would appear that the U.S wanted to walk a fine line between its usual stance of
wanting to spread democracy to other nations and keeping the Russian government as an
apparent ally. It is also important to note however, that if the protests persisted to give support to
the movement then, “Russian domestic politics will become an increasingly central factor in US-
Russian relations. This should be a welcome change for it may indicate a restarted evolution
immensely favorable to America’s geostrategy and security.”16. Although at the end of the day,
it may a situation where the Russian people were the ones that had to bring their dream of
democracy to a reality, but looking at the success of Georgia and Ukraine it hard to think that
U.S and other foreign support would have helped.
One of the key aspects of the protests, and one of the things that may have helped it get
large domestic support was that it was widely a peaceful protest. One of the main symbols of the
movement was a simple white ribbon. The idea of the symbol began on the Internet and spread
throughout the movement. Most observers of the protest related it to the symbols of the post-
Soviet revolutions such as orange in Ukraine and rose in Georgia17. Many Russians tied the
ribbon to themselves, belongings, cars, etc. as a sign of just how large movement was and to give
it even more of a visual representation. The ribbon had different meanings to different people.
One Russian was quoted as saying, “The white ribbon is a symbol of disagreement with the
elections we’ve just had” while another person said, “…it’s a symbol of transparency and clarity,
15 Nuland,Victoria. "http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/111812.pdf." U.S Department of State. March
5 2012.Web. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/03/185210.htm>.
16 Aron, Leon. Russia's Protesters:The People, Ideals and Prospects.,2012.Web.

in many ways. The more people wear the ribbon, the more obvious it will become that nobody
agrees with the results of the elections”17.
The symbolic white ribbon was just once instance of the peaceful nature of these protests.
What really attracted people to the movement was that the protesters just wanted basic freedoms.
As stated previously, the protesters main demand was that they get fair elections. This is
something that is seen by a lot of people as basic right that should be given to a country’s
population. Signs that the protesters often ready things like “Putin has stolen our voices!”, which
is a play on words since in Russian the word for “voice” and “vote” are the same18. By taking
away their votes, the government also took away the people’s voices. This is something that
would effectively upset anyone even if they were skeptical or fearful of a change in government.
One statistic showed that 2 out 3 Russians supported the demonstrators and this could be
attributed to the use of these nonviolent tactics and ways of showing that what the demonstrators
wanted was morally right19. With a history such as Russia, especially the chaos that erupted in
the 1990s, it might have been hard for people to get behind a political movement, but a
movement that appealed to people’s morals was something that was easier to support.
The idea that the younger generation is what really motivated this movement is one that
is largely supported by many people who have done extensive research on these protests. Polling
shows that more than half of the protesters were under forty years old and that 25% of them were
between the ages of 18 to 2420. This is important to understanding why the movement took place
17 Vassilieva,Maria."Russia Protest:White Ribbon Emerges as RallyingSymbol."BBC News Europe December 8
2011.Web. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16097709>.
18 Aron, L. (2013).The long strugglefor freedom. Journal of Democracy, 24(3), 62-74.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jod.2013.0053
20 Aron, L. (2013).The long strugglefor freedom. Journal of Democracy, 24(3), 62-74.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jod.2013.0053

because this younger generation grew up largely without any memory of life under the Soviet
Union. At least 25% of them were just born or at least toddlers when the havoc of the 1990s took
place. They grew up under much stronger economic growth and because of this economic
growth the standard of living also rose. A lot of the protesters were part of the middle class and
as one scholar points out, “Again and again, after periods of strong economic growth, newly
expanded middle classes begin to desire more than mere person freedom and prosperity, and thus
start to demand political freedom”20. . A lot of those young demonstrators took one look at
Putin’s corrupt elections and demanded change. The one problem with the movement being
made up of mostly young people is the idea that the older generation may have still opposed the
movement. They gave one thought to what happened in the past and thought that history may be
repeated. This may have not been true for everyone, but it did bring conflict to the movement
and the Russian people. Unity, not conflict is what brings about a truly successful movement and
this contrast could be a factor into why the movement ultimately did not bring about the changed
it wanted.
Overall, the pro-democracy in Russia at its height in 2011 had its ups and downs. On one
hand it had a large base of support, mostly from middle-class young people, but on the other
hand the hardships of the 1990s still lingered on many minds. International support was hard to
find unlike in many post-Soviet revolutions. The peaceful protests were not met with an overly-
aggressive police force like with what happens most of the time with these movements causing
no incentive for more people to join the cause. It is apparent that the movement failed to seize
the opportunity that they had in 2011-2012. The time for large protests in Russia has faded and
there is now many Russians have reverted back to the state of apathy toward political change. As

one former protesters sums up the general feelings about the protests now, “Deep in my heart, I
hope it may happen. If not—well, we will live the way we live now.”21
21 Barry,Ellen. "As Putin?s Grip Gets Tighter, a Time of Protest Fades in Russia."New York Times: 1. January 13
2013.Web. October 8, 2014.

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