GEA Exam 2

This post-Soviet state was thoroughly Russified in the past and tends to be closely associated with Russia today. It has not implemented as many market reforms as other post-Soviet states have and its economy remains dominated by state firms that sell to Russia. Politically, the country is tightly controlled by its Soviet-style leader.

Belarus

The ownership of the ________________ petroleum riches is contested, and transporting the petroleum is also challenging because the routes both to internal and foreign market - especially Western markets - involve passing the petroleum through contested space

Caspian Sea

Since World War II, most of the conflicts in this region have been in ___________________________, mainly just before or shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union. In the years after the breakup, pro-democracy movements have emerged in several countries, where they hold the promise of bringing political change without violent conflict. However, their long-term effectiveness remains unclear.

Caucasia and Central Asia

Taking control in 1922, ______________________ brought to the country a mixture of brutality and revolutionary change that set the course for the rest of the Soviet Union's history. He established a centrally planned, or socialist, economy in which the state owned all property and means of production, while government officials in Moscow directed all economic activity. This system became known as ______________________.

Joseph Stalin; a command economy

These post-Soviet states have significant agricultural resources, including relatively warm climates and rich soil. Their agricultural trade is mainly with Russia, but as farms are privatized and modernized, both countries' participation in the global market probably will increase. Because they make up a significant portion of the EU's border to the east, the European Union has taken a strong interest in the economic and political development of these countries. Mixed ethnicities within both countries have resulted in internal tensions over political power.

Moldova and Ukraine

_____________________ is Russia's fast-growing primate city; it attracts an affluent, young, and educated population.

Moscow

the largest country in the world (almost twice the size of the second largest)

Russia

The former Soviet Union has been replaced by a loose alliance of ________________________

Russia and 11 post-Soviet states

Elections have become common in this region, although whether they are free and fair is uncertain. Democracies in this region are also threatened by crime and corruption.

Russia and Independent States

Russian Federation

Russia and its political subunits, which include 21 internal republics

Across most of the (Russian) region, agriculture is precarious, either hampered by a short growing season and boggy soils or requiring expensive inputs of labor, water, and fertilizer. European Russia and ______________________ is the region's main breadbasket.

Ukraine

The Cold War was a nearly 50-year-long period that occurred after _________________________

World War II

buffer state

a country that is situated between two rival and more powerful political entities and serves as a neutral territory, limiting direct contact and potential conflict between the two countries

Bolsheviks

a faction of Communists who came to power during the Russian Revolution

Slavs

a group of people who originated between the Dnieper and Vistula Rivers in modern-day Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus

Mongols

a loose confederation of nomadic pastoral people centered in East and Central Asia, who by the 13th century had established by conquest an empire that stretched from Europe to the Pacific

Siberia

a region of Russia that is located east of the Ural Mountains

tundra

a treeless area, between the ice cap and the tree line of arctic regions, where the subsoil is permanently frozen

The Soviet centrally planned economy was less efficient than market economies in ________________________. A legacy of Soviet central planning is the location of huge industrial projects in the farthest reaches of Soviet territory. Many of these projects are now in decline.

allocating resources

centrally planned or socialist economy

an economic system in which the state owns all land and means of production, while government officials direct all economic activity, including the locating of factories, residences, and transportation infrastructure

communism

an ideology, based largely on the writings of the German revolutionary Karl Marx, that calls on workers to unite to overthrow capitalists and establish an egalitarian society where workers share what they produce

Group of Eight (G8)

an organization of eight countries with large economies: France, US, Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, Russia

Official Soviet ideology was _________________, and religious practice and beliefs were seen as obstacles to revolutionary change. In the post-Soviet era, religion is a major component of the general cultural revival.

atheism

nonpoint sources of pollution

diffuse sources of environmental contamination, such as untreated automobile exhaust, raw sewage, and agricultural chemicals, that drain from fields into water supplies

Population trends in this region are highly uneven. Russia and the countries bordering Europe have the most rapidly declining populations on Earth. Meanwhile, the Central Asia and Caucasian countries have higher birth rates, though they are still losing people to________________________

emigration

The Soviet Union gave strong incentives for women to work and become involved in politics, but in the post-Soviet era, gaps have been increasing between men and women in _______________________________________________. New threats to women have also emerged, such as international prostitution rings, now active in some countries.

employment rates and political representation

The fall of the Soviet Union and the economic reforms that followed have increased disparities of wealth and made the region dependent on ________________________________.

energy exports

Caucasia, a mountainous subregion about the size of California, is home to more than 50 _____________________, several belief systems, three independent countries, and seven Russian internal republics in the northern reaches of the Caucasus Mountains

ethnic groups

There continue to be limitations on the ________________ and related media across the (Russian) region.

free press

Gazprom

in Russia, the state-owned energy company; it is the largest gas entity in the world

oligarchs

in Russia, those who acquired great wealth during the privatization of Russia's resources and who use that wealth to exercise power

____________________________ are attempting to become cleaner, but decades may pass before significant improvements are realized

industries

glasnost

literally, "openness"; the policies instituted in the late 1980s under Mikhail Gorbachev that encouraged greater transparency and openness in the workings of all levels of Soviet governments

perestroika

literally, "restructuring"; the restructuring of the Soviet economic system that was done in the late 1980s in an attempt to revitalize the economy

In Russia, patterns of development changed after 1991 with the switch to a __________________. As state-owned firms closed or were sold to private parties, jobs were lost and wealth disparities increased drastically. Crude oil and natural gas emerged as the region's most lucrative exports, introducing a new wave of globalization and fossil fuel-dependent economic development

market economy

A process of geopolitical realignment is taking place, in which some post-Soviet states seek closer relations with Europe, while others are developing ties with ________________

nearby Asian countries

Urban and industrial pollution were ignored during Soviet times as cities expanded quickly to accommodate new industries. In some places __________________________ is also a serious concern.

nuclear contamination

The potential benefits of political and economic reforms in the post-Soviet era have been dampened by __________________________ and the growth of organized crime

official corruption

nomadic pastoralists

people whose way of life and economy are centered on tending grazing animals that are moved seasonally to gain access to the best pastures

permafrost

permanently frozen soil that lies just a few feet beneath the surface

Russia, the largest country in the world in area, has three __________________________________ principal geographic divisions, and although linked politically, each has distinct economies and cultural traditions.

principal geographic divisions

While several countries have held elections, many forms of authoritarian control remain. Elected representative bodies often act as _________________________ for very strong presidents and exercise only limited influence on policy.

rubber stamps

steppes

semiarid, grass-covered plains

The benefits of economic reforms in the post-Soviet era have been dampened by widespread corruption, organized crime, lower incomes for many, and the loss of ________________________

social services

taiga

subarctic coniferous forests

The Bolsheviks, a group inspired by the principles of communism, were the dominant leaders of ____________________. Their goal, never achieved, was an egalitarian society where people would work out of a commitment to the common good, sharing whatever they produced

the Russian Revolution of 1917

As early as 5000 years ago, Central Asia had settled communities that were supported by irrigated croplands and enriched by trade along what became known as _______________

the Silk Road

Siberia and the Far East are sparsely populated, with only a handful of isolated commercial and industrial centers between ____________________________. The natural resource economy of these areas is increasingly oriented toward Asia.

the Urals and the Pacific

underemployment

the condition in which people are working too few hours to make a decent living or are highly trained but working at menial jobs

Cold War

the contest that pitted the United States and western Europe, espousing free market capitalism and democracy, against the USSR and its allies, who were promoting a centrally planned economy and a socialist state

Russification

the czarist and Soviet policy of encouraging ethnic Russians to settle in non-Russian areas as a way to assert political control

Caucasia

the mountainous region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

the multinational union formed by the Russian empire in 1922 and dissolved in 1991; commonly known as the Soviet Union

Communist Party

the political organization that ruled the USSR from 1917 to 1991; other communist countries, such as China, Mongolia, North Korea, and Cuba, also have ruling Communist parties

trafficking

the recruiting, transporting, and harboring of people through coercion for the purpose of exploiting them

privatization

the sale of industries that were formerly owned and operated by the government to private companies and individuals

czar

title of the ruler of the Russian empire

An uneven pattern of _________________ is developing in this region (Russia). In several countries, the largest cities are growing rapidly, as they are centers of new economic development and globalization. Meanwhile, in Russia and elsewhere, many cities and rural regions are shrinking as the overall population declines.

urbanization

capitalists

usually a wealthy minority that owns the majority of factories, farms, businesses, and other means of production