Autocracy and property rights

Autocracy was founded in the ancient Greece from the beginning, as the only Chris tian government. Later it was passed on to the Rus and at last it reached the Russians . Autocrats are described as slaves under god himself. The orders that god (or in this case the Tsar) sent out to his slaves , had to be obeyed whether they liked it or not. According to Marshall T. Poe autocracy has always played a big part of Russia s go vernance. The people of Russia saw the Tsar as their protector against a European invasion a nd domestic threats as well (starvation, civil war etc.). Therefore the Tsar was tr usted by everyone and nobody dared to question his ruling of Russia. That is why disputes between the Russian people and the Russian Nobles were rare, according to Poe. Poe describes Russia and autocracy like the perfect fit for each other. Europe h as always been a step in front of Russia, regarding democracy and technology. Russians have alw ays been afraid of a European invasion and therefore created and put a lot of money into th eir system of protection & security. The working class did not have any rights. The autocracy justified that their la nd or property could be confiscated in order to serve the state. All the different goods the co mmon people produced were an indirect matter of the nation. This was a system of control tha t also made it very difficult for an internal rebellion to break out as the autocrats regularly checked up on the peasants. Power and property comes in a package in Russia. You could say that the more pro perty you own the more powerful you are. Property in Russia was owned by the state, or the nobles. This means that the working class was working for the state only, and leased the p roperty of the state. The workers did not have any rights, and if the needs of the state we re not satisfied they could take the land from the workers and even make them homeless.

After the fall of the Soviet Union Russia wanted to set course for a market econ omy and a modern democracy. The property rights needed to be changed. Now people were supp osed to own property and land. The oligarchs managed to claim and benefit from many indu stries. This gave the oligarchs huge influence in the Russian market and economy. The ol igarchs made business between themselves with higher prices regarding commodity. The Yeltsin era

When Yeltsin came to power, he did so in a unfavorable era. He wanted to bring t he glasnost and Perestroika into a country which lacked a leader, where corruption and anarc hy was the governance of the country, and where the people did not understand the concepts of own will and free thinking . The oligarchs had gained foothold in the big industries of the country, which was given to them from the Yeltsin administration, in return they had to p ay federal taxes from their revenues. this is very similar to the Tsar times, were the favo rable was given a position of trust. The Russian mafia - as well as the countries own protectors of the law the police, and the national security agencies; blackmailed and extorted the bus iness owners of the nation, which led to even more and more corruption and brought the countr y even more misery and distortion.

Yeltsin wanted to strengthen the Russian economy and competition by introducing a new program for privatization; this was an attempt to bring in capitalism, and marke t economy into Russia. This affected the Russian GDP in a negative way and the economic problem s just got worse.

Yeltsin was trying to create a market economy in Russia. He wanted people to und erstand that there was a big difference between property rights in a democracy and under a di ctatorship. People needed to know that they could work for themselves and own their own land and home. However Yeltsin did not fulfill his goals and Russia needed a leader that could bring order out of chaos. That s when Putin came in.

Vladimir Putin, Russia s savior

The key to control the Russian market was to control the Oligarchs, and give the state a more authorial power over the more economically favorable industries. A deal was crea ted between the Oligarchs and Vladimir Putin. The oligarchs were left alone with the industries they owned only if they did not question Putin s decisions and authority. Putin th reatened to take away their companies and send them to Siberia if they did not obey the rule s.

The oligarchs and their industries are controlled by Putin. He also controls all state-owned companies (e.g. Gazprom), the financial market and all other social environments . This is proof for a modern autocracy.

Thanks to Putin, Russia s reliance amongst investors has increased significantly a nd the GDP have grown to an acceptable level. But Russia is still very dependent on their e xports of raw material that covers about 80% of the country s total exports.

You can call Putin's regime as a return to service nobility . That means that once again they were heading back to an authoritarian government, giving the secret police servi ce KGB great power to make order by force in Russia. The vertical power reminds us about the Russian history from the autocrat s power under the tsar but also from the Soviet Union. P utin put his fellow men on important positions and makes it very hard or in some cases gets r id of the competition. You could say that under the rule of Putin the economy has been ope ned up to the world, but the politics on the other hand is taking two steps back. As oppos e to the Yeltsin-era the political opposition is no longer allowed to be heard for the pe ople. Putin and his KGB controls the different institutions because he makes sure that these imp ortant posts are filled with the right people, people that he can count on. Putin understood that the country would be much stronger if the majority of the industries, not controlled of the oligarchs, (but which still was un-official) would be controll ed under the state s supervision. Therefore he nearly monopolized the oil industry on the behal f of the state, and himself. He understood that by a planned economy and market controlle d by the state the country would be, and grow into being, very independent of other count ries. They would be independent, but also very, very rich and by natural forces; with indep endence and wealth, a threat to others.