Word: parliament
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...CONSTITUTION: A relic not worth defending. The 150 legislators who barricaded themselves in Moscow's White House last week claimed to be fighting against "Yeltsin's anticonstitutional regime." But the Constitution dates back to 1978 and was conceived when "parliament" was little more than a rubber stamp. The document fails to distinguish between the executive and legislative branches of government, offers no coherent foundation for lawmaking and has been amended over 300 times. The reason for parliament's loyalty to it: thanks to its inherent ambiguities, the Constitution serves as an ideal instrument for hamstringing Yeltsin...
...PARLIAMENT: Not the real thing. Unlike the nascent democracies of Eastern Europe, Russia has not held a parliamentary (or presidential) election since the fall of communism. Result: the parliament is dominated by unreconstructed communists who were elected three years ago to represent a Russia that was still part of the Soviet Union, a country that no longer exists...
...armed mutiny had ended. Ordinary Muscovites were in the streets, flocking to stare at the charred shell of the White House, the skyscraper parliament building they had sardonically renamed "the Black House." Wiping tears from her cheeks, a woman with henna-streaked gray hair said to fellow gawkers, "I don't know what Rutskoi would have been like as a leader, but I'm fed up with Yeltsin...
...good thing we won't have a chance to find out what Rutskoi is like," a well-dressed young man snapped. A Rutskoi supporter responded, "You will wake up when you have to clean American boots." A man in scholarly glasses murmured, "Just imagine what would have happened if parliament had seized power. Armed bands would be roaming the streets and robbing...
...clear about what kinds of local government organs may replace the hundreds of soviets, and in only two months Russians are to vote for members of a parliament that has not been established or finally defined. Last May, Yeltsin introduced the draft of a new constitution providing for a strong presidential system, a federal structure and a two-house parliament. But like so many other reforms in Russia, it was blocked by the old legislature, which had no incentive to put itself out of work...