THE SOURCES OF PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND POLITICAL POWER

LINK TO... MRS. WOOD'S CLASSES RUSSIA HOMEPAGE SOURCES OF POWER LEGITIMACY HISTORICAL TRADITION POLITICAL CULTURE POLITICAL CHANGE SOCIETY AND POLITICS CITIZEN AND STATE POLITICAL FRAMEWORK

For most of the 20th century, public authority and political power emanated from one place: the Politburo of the Communist Party. The Politburo was a small group of men who climbed the ranks of the party through nomenklatura, an ordered path from local party soviets to the "commanding heights" of leadership. When the Soviet Union dissolved, its authority and power vanished with it, leaving in place a new government structure with questionable legitimacy. Still, the political culture and historical traditions of Russia are firmly entrenched and have shaped the genesis of the new regime, and undoubtedly will determine the nature of its future.