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Differences Between Russia And Iran

Decent Essays

How can states in different regions of the world be similar? Russia and Iran are an example of this because they are both similar in the type of regime they have but yet are completely different. The way a regime rules a state makes vastly different people fit in the same category. Each state, Russia and Iran, have institutions in regards to where they fall in the model of how they rule. Iran and Russia have different methods of co-optation for their regimes. Russia and Iran fit in the models of nondemocratic rule, the state institutions of nondemocratic rule, and the methods of co-optation in the regimes will be explored. Nondemocratic regimes are more than the lack of democracy in a state. “Those in which a political regime is controlled by a small group of individuals who exercise power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public” (O’Neil 178). Now that we have a correct and working definition, we can see where each state fits in O’Neil’s “Models of Nondemocratic Rule”. Russia fits in this model because it is the category of personal and monarchal rule. This category is defined as “rule by a single leader with no clear regime or rules constraining that leadership” (O’Neil 198). It falls in this category because the current presidency of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Putin stepped down from being president in 2008 after serving the two 6 year limits and became prime minister where he still called all the shots (O’Neil, Fields, and Share

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