The political state of countries today is always changing and developing into new and hopefully more efficient methods of running a country. In comparing and contrasting the political setup of two countries a good understanding of the different systems is easily seen. The fall of Communism in many parts of the world has triggered countries like Russia to create new political systems and political parties.
This also changes the functioning of the economy and the military. Likewise in India, changes are almost seen daily in the ruling of the country. Comparing and contrasting these two countries involves many areas including the political parties, legislative branch and the executive branch. These topics can be compared and contrasted since The Russian Federation and the country of India are alike yet different in many ways. These two countries both have had a difficult time transitioning into a Democratic political system.
In Russia the transition to Democracy was very difficult since this country did not have an established party system and the old system only allowed Communism (Palmer, 344). The major parties to come to light include: Liberal Democratic, Russia’s Choice, Yabloko, Communist Party, Women of Russia, Our Home, Agrarian, Party of Russian Unity and the Democratic. The most radical reformers like Russia’s Choice want a quick change to capitalism and just want the economic gain. This group could care less about the negatives involved in the rapid changes. The moderate reformers like the Our Home, the Women of Russia Party and the Yabloko also want capitalism, but in a more moderate way. (Palmer, 345) The communist party is also still running and trying to get back in power.
The past comes to haunt many interested in putting communism back into effect. The supporters argue that a new reformed Communist Party would provide secure employment, good lifestyles and economic prosperity. The communists get support only when the outlook for the economy is bad and fear of unemployment is affecting many workers. (Palmer, 346) The last of these parties is the fascist party called the Liberal Democratic Party. This party platform stated in 1993 elections, “calling for a strong army, continued government management of Russia’s industries, liquidation of the 5000 gangs that control the economy, arm sales to any country or group that wants the buy them, deportation of non-Russians, avoiding mistakes of Hitler in dealing with the West, “nuking” the Japanese if they continued to pressure Russia to give back some small islands occupied since the end of World War II, a strong dose of anti-Semitism, and finding husbands for all unmarried women.
” (Palmer, 346)Like Russia, India has several parties in its Democratic system including: The Congress Party, The Bharatiya Janata Party, and The Third Front. India for a long time was considered a single party Democracy and the Congress party ruled for about fifty years. (Palmer, 453) The Congress party used these four items to gain support: charisma of Nehru and Gandhi, the independence movement, the party’s broad base in the local way of life and the ability to take in a great range of regional, ideological and communal groups. (Palmer, 453) The Bharatiya Janata Party is a rising group that ranks second to the Congress party and asserts that the majority needs to rise above in India.
(Palmer, 453) The executive branch in The Federation of Russia includes a very powerful presidential cabinet. The president is the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces, and has the job to maintain the Constitution and the integrity of the State. (Palmer, 334) If either is threatened the president has the ability to declare a state of emergency and rule by decree only. (Palmer, 334) The president also nominates and can remove government heads and judges. The Russian president is given tremendous power unlike the president of India.
The Indian president does have the power of commander-in-chief of all the armed forces but resides as a more symbolic position. The Indian constitution calls for the advice of the Prime Minister in times of emergencies. (Palmer, 445) The president in Russia is also the chief bureaucrat unlike the Indian president who relies on the Prime Minister to do those functions. The Prime Minister of Russia resides over .
