Geography Section 5

more than 100 languages are spoken

How many languages comprise Russia and the Near Abroad?

Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism

What are the 4 religions that Russia recognizes today?

tundra, subarctic, humid continental, steppe, and desert

What are the 5 main climate belts of Russia and the Near Abroad?

rising unemployment / economic downturn --> alcoholism, increase in crime rates, increase in smoking, increase in drug use, and increase in suicide rate

Why has Russia's economic health plummeted since the breakup of the Soviet Union?

Russia got kicked out for its invasion into Ukraine last year

Why is Russia no longer part of the G-8?

irredentism

a movement by an ethnic group in 1 country to revive or reinforce kindred ethnicity in another country - often in an effort to promote succession there *Russification used to occur *trying to revive an ethnicity outside of your area

Russification

an effort to implant Russian culture in non-Russian regions and to make non-Russians more like Russians (the Soviet policy); generally a failure

Gosplan

committee for state planning located in Moscow; under command economy

"loose nukes"

nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists (entire countries or single people)

Mongols

people from Mongolia --> combined with Tartars

autonomies

republics and lesser units; means "self-rule"

Golden Horde

what Russians called the Kazan Tartars because of their brightly colored tents in which they lived in

about 30 major ethnic groups

Approximately how many major ethnic groups comprise Russia and the Near Abroad?

glasnost

*"openness" / transparent *Gorbachev did this to allow for a more democratic government, more freedom of expression, and a more productive economy

*it is the world's largest statue *a female sword-wielding figure *in memory of defenders in the battle of Stalingrad during WW II

What is the significance of the statue The Russian Motherland?

gigantomania

an obsession with fulfilling huge quotas or implementing grandiose schemes; a soviet preoccupation; similar to China situation; concerned with quantity over quality

kleptocracy

an organized or unorganized economic and political system based on crime

underground economy

black marketing developed

perestroika

*"restructuring" *Gorbachev did this to allow for a more democratic government, more freedom of expression, and a more productive economy

Third Rome

*Moscow is known as this for its importance in christian affairs *after Rome and Constantinople

land empire

*Russia (later the Soviet Union) *rather than establishing its colonies overseas, Russia established colonies in its own vast continent

taiga

*Russia's northern coniferous (evergreen) forest *largest, coniferous area of forest on earth *a huge carbon sink

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

*a military alliance (confederacy) *China wants secure economic relationships with Central Asia

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)

*aims to overthrow the Uzbek government and establish an Islamic state; trying to establish democracy

humus

*an abundance of this in the topsoil cause great fertility *decomposed soil

Hizb ut-Tahir

*an outlawed Islamist party *they went to an extreme because they wanted to establish a Muslim caliphate (kingdom) in Central Asia *may be responsible for some uprisings

"stans"

*central Asia was decidedly non-Russian but heavily Russian-influenced *Kazakhstan + Kyrgyzstan + Tajikistan + Turkmenistan + Uzbekistan

economic shock therapy

*designed to replace the communist system with a free-market economy *it removed price controls and encouraged privatization of businesses *a rapid transition from command economy to capitalism *Russian cross was a result

collectivized agriculture

*farmers and farming had troubled careers under this Soviet System *their land-holdings were confiscated and reorganized by the government into 2 types of large farm units: collective farm and factory-type state farm

arms race

*in 60s, 70s, 80s *the Soviet Union and U.S. were in a race to build conventional and nuclear weapons

new lands (virgin and idle lands)

*land taken by the government to increase grain production in the 1950s

GUAM

*made up of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova *promote economic integration, democratic reform, and westernization

Cossacks

*peasant-soldiers in the steppes originally consisting of runaway serfs and other fleeing from tsardom; helped in creating a land empire

Tartars

*people of Central Asia *they conquered much of Asia and eastern Europe in the 13th century

renationalization

*reversed the trend toward privatization (away from privatization) that had been under way *began under Putin *Russian government has increased control over private sectors

command economy

*series of 5-year economic plans under Stalin for Soviet Union + Satellites *the government controlled everything

Russian Revolution

*the 1st revolution *set the stage for the formation of the Soviet Union *it overthrew the monarchy / government (Romanov Czars)

Bolshevik Revolution

*the 2nd revolution *led by Lenin *created the communist party *established the Soviet Union 1922

Second Russian Revolution

*the Soviet Union was replaced with 15 independent countries *Borin was the new president *Gorbachev resigned in 1991 *led to the end of the Soviet Union

USSR

*the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics *Includes: Russia and the Near Abroad + Estonia + Latvia + Lithuania

"Russian Cross"

*the disturbing trend lines of increasing death rates and falling birth rates in Russia intersected in the mid-1990's *Russia has the highest population in the world *a chart that shows increasing death rates and decreasing birth rates intersecting

World Trade Organization (WTO)

*the organization that sets the ground rules for globalization (free trade)

Group of Eight (G-8)

*the world's most economically powerful and politically influential countries *Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Japan, U.K., and U.S.

misdeveloped country

*trend of plummeting population due to rising death rates *a label instead of MDC, LDC, and NIC

scorched earth strategy

*used by the defense *a wartime practice of destroying one's assets to prevent them from falling into enemies' hands *a strategy to protect the motherland

Rus

*vikings conquered areas between Baltic and Black seas - intermix with Slavic people *viking adventurers from Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Finland) *provide foundation for Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian cultures

11

How many time zones are there in Russia?

permafrost

huge areas in the tundra and subarctic climatic zones are permanently frozen to a depth of a few feet *because of this, pipelines and buildings have to be elevated and insulated *permanently frozen ground / topsoil

bourgeoisie

the capitalist class / entrepreneurs

proletariat

the industrial working class; exploited by the bourgeoisie