199 1 ~ 1999, during Yeltsin's eight years in power, Russia experienced severe political turmoil and serious economic crisis. Yeltsin changed the prime minister and reorganized the government five times, but failed to get rid of the predicament and the situation in the country worsened. During this period, Russia's GDP dropped by 50%, half of the population lived in extreme poverty, and the number of unemployed people reached 65.438+million. At the same time, the crime rate in Russia has soared, and bureaucratic privileges and corruption are rampant in society. In 2000, Putin won the general election and became the president of the Russian Federation under the circumstances that the bottom of Russian society strongly demanded change, while the upper power was in crisis and it was unsustainable to manage the country according to the old methods. At that time, western economists predicted that no matter who was the president of Russia, the status quo could not be changed, and Russia was still a country with spiritual and political collapse. After Putin took office, he made great efforts to rise. After six years of firm reform, Russia has been effectively governed. State power has been strengthened and the political situation has remained stable. Russia's economy has been growing rapidly for six consecutive years, with a growth rate of 5%~7%. People's living standards have been greatly improved, and social order has obviously improved. With the recovery and enhancement of national strength, Russia's performance on the international stage has become increasingly active, its participation in international affairs has become increasingly active, and it has dared to show its strength in safeguarding the country's major interests, and Russia's international status has been enhanced.
Second, the basis, means and objectives of Putin's reform strategy
After Putin took office, he resolutely pursued the reform strategy suited to Russia's national conditions and made a series of adjustments to the original policies. In the economic field, Putin not only ruled out the western model of comprehensive economic liberalization promoted by Yeltsin and Gaidar, but also abandoned the Soviet model of highly centralized national mobilization. Putin is committed to establishing a new production relationship in the 2 1 century, which is suitable for Russia's realistic conditions, that is, replacing the oligarchy capitalism that actually controlled the state power during Yeltsin's period with state capitalism. The focus of Putin's reform is to punish oligarchs and chaebols who illegally plunder state property and monopolize the lifeline of Russian economy. We will severely crack down on criminal offences, eliminate corruption, strengthen the legal system, improve social and economic order, and strive to control important strategic resources in the hands of the state. Generally speaking, large private capital enterprises advocate operating under state supervision. The state plays a leading and regulating role in economic activities and implements a "controllable market economy". For small and medium-sized private enterprises, the state protects their legitimate rights and interests by improving laws and regulations, supplemented by administrative means. In addition, attention should be paid to mobilizing all positive factors to participate in social and economic construction and promote national economic development. Putin's reform is actually to modify Yeltsin's system, and on the basis of restoring trampled social justice and economic justice, choose a development path that conforms to Russia's actual national conditions, so as to realize the goal of "strengthening the country and enriching the people" and revitalize Russia's status as a big country.
In the political field, in order to eradicate separatism, localism and nationalism, Putin carried out drastic reforms on the federal structure. The Russian Federation consists of 89 federal entities, each of which not only has various powers, but also formulates local laws and regulations that contradict the central government. This loose management system exposes the serious defects of the Russian Federation's political system and is a hidden danger that affects the integrity and unity of the Russian Federation. In view of this, Putin has set up seven federal districts throughout the country, and established a special representative system for the president in each federal district to strengthen local control. In terms of political system reform measures, we should first change the election system of local leaders, that is, the local chief executive is nominated by the president and produced with the approval of the local Council, so as to realize the centralization of power from the local to the central government and vertical leadership to the local government. Each federal entity becomes an administrative unit under a single country. The second is to change the method of selecting members of the State Duma. All candidates are elected according to the proportion of votes won by political parties, and local councils will accept the leadership of the ruling party's parliament, forming a situation in which "vertical legislative system" and "vertical administrative system" coexist. This system is conducive to the political stability and economic development of the country, and the main power is concentrated in the hands of the president to ensure the reunification of the Russian Federation and the smooth implementation of government decrees. The establishment of Putin's strong presidential position is conducive to the implementation of his concept of governing the country.
In the diplomatic field, Putin determines diplomatic tasks according to the principles of realism, pragmatism and safeguarding national interests. First of all, the new concept of Russian foreign policy formulated under the leadership of Putin points out that Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has considerable potential and resources in all fields of its activities, and maintains close relations with major countries in the world, which has a substantial impact on the formation of a new world pattern. The new concept is the concept of multipolar international relations system and Russia's international strategic goals. Therefore, Russia's position on the international stage is not limited to European countries. Since Russia spans the Asian continent and three quarters of its territory is located in Asia, this special geographical condition determines that Russia must be a big Eurasian country. Russia also has the second largest nuclear potential and the largest natural resources in the world, and its citizens have a fairly high level of knowledge. Therefore, Russia will become an independent pole in a multipolar world, both from a historical perspective and from a development perspective. The strategic goal of multipolarization determines that Russia pursues "all-round diplomacy" that takes into account both East and West.
According to the needs of national interests, strengthening and developing relations with CIS countries is the primary focus of Russian diplomacy. Because CIS countries are Russia's "external living space" and Russia's "special interest zone". Secondly, it is diplomacy with western countries, with the focus on the European Union. Russia and the European Union share common interests in opposing hegemonism and promoting the establishment of a multipolar world pattern. The strategic cooperation between Russia and the EU will help to balance the United States. However, the EU's continuous eastward expansion policy and its wanton accusations against Russia on human rights, security and political and economic reforms have led to numerous contradictions and constant frictions in Russia-Europe relations. However, they are closely linked by economic interdependence and different needs. Russia-US relations are the focus of Russian foreign policy. Putin used the "9. 1 1" incident to provide all-round support for the United States to launch the war on terrorism in an attempt to improve relations with the United States. However, instead of reciprocated, the United States expanded its military presence in Central Asia and the Caucasus in the name of counter-terrorism, and then instigated a "color revolution" in the Commonwealth of Independent States in an attempt to bring Russia's traditional sphere of influence into its own control. The United States also publicly accused Russia of reform as a "retrogression of democracy" and unscrupulously interfered in its internal affairs. Under this circumstance, Russia was forced to adjust its diplomacy with the United States and emphasize its autonomy. While distancing itself from the West, Russia attaches more and more importance to its eastern diplomacy. China and India are two pillars of Russian diplomacy towards Asia. Latin America, Africa and the Middle East will become Russia's most important friends. In diplomatic strategy, Putin is pragmatic and flexible. In recent years, Russia has taken advantage of its resources to frequently attack and compete for geostrategic interests, and at the same time, it also seeks to control the oil and gas resources and pipelines of the CIS through economic and diplomatic means. Generally speaking, Russian diplomacy is effective in safeguarding national interests.
Third, the reform has achieved initial results, but Putin will face new challenges.
One of the reform goals of Putin's first term was to crack down on oligarchs, and this task has been basically completed at present. On August 1 2006, Yukos Oil Company declared bankruptcy, and its huge assets of tens of billions of dollars will be acquired by Russian oil companies, thus the state's control over the oil industry will rise to 67%. Bankruptcy supporters believe that nationalizing Yukos will help stabilize the oil industry and promote GDP growth. The Russian Independent newspaper commented on this, pointing out that its political significance is far greater than its economic significance. The bankruptcy of Yukos completely ended the oligarchic era in Russia.
The reform goal of Putin's second term is to continue the fight against corruption. At the beginning of Putin's coming to power, local anti-corruption was carried out, and bureaucrats at all levels were impacted and temporarily restrained. However, with the improvement of the economy, Russia's strength has increased, extravagance has resurfaced, and corruption has resurfaced and intensified. This has led to Russian people's dissatisfaction and greatly affected people's trust in the government. Therefore, Putin regards anti-corruption as the primary task of promoting reform at present. However, there are many obstacles and difficulties, because corruption in Russia is intertwined and has become a habit of Russian political culture. Anti-corruption will inevitably touch the Russian bureaucracy. If the system is not changed, anti-corruption will not succeed. Therefore, from the source, Putin is leading Russia into a new stage of internal system reform focusing on deepening administrative reform and legal reform within the government. Putin is determined to fight corruption this round, but he also bears high political risks. It is difficult to achieve the goal only by a large-scale anti-corruption action or Putin's own efforts. Therefore, Russia's anti-corruption road will continue for a long time.
So far, Putin has been in power for six years, formulated major policies for Russia's revival, and reformed important state departments, so that Russia bid farewell to decline and began to revive. However, there are still many restrictive factors in Russia's revival, such as abnormal industrial structure: heavy industry and agriculture are seriously backward, the industrial mechanism of raw materials is expanding, and the proportion of energy enterprises is too large. If the industrial structure is not adjusted in time, it will have a negative impact on the long-term development of the Russian economy. On the issue of resource nationalization reform, although Putin has received general support, there is also a lot of pressure to rebound, including pressure from the West. This constitutes a constraint on Putin's reform. It can be expected that Putin will continue to face new challenges in the journey of Russian rejuvenation.