Aduma (Russian:дума) is aRussian assembly with advisory orlegislative functions.
The termboyar duma is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century,city dumas were formed across Russia.
The first formally constituted state duma was theImperial State Duma introduced to theRussian Empire byEmperorNicholas II in 1905. The Emperor retained an absoluteveto and could dismiss the State Duma at any time for a suitable reason. Nicholas dismissed theFirst State Duma (1906) within 75 days; elections for a second Duma took place the following year. TheRussian Provisional Government dissolved the last Imperial State Duma (the fourth Duma) in 1917 during theRussian Revolution.
Since 1993, theState Duma (Государственная дума,Gosudarstvennaya Duma) has functioned as the lower legislative house of theRussian Federation.
The Russian word is inherited from theProto-Slavic word*duma which is of disputed origin. Its origin has many proposed theories that provide convincing evidence to support each proposed origin. Mladenov, Stender-Petersen: From Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke”), akin to Proto-Slavic *duti (“to blow, to inflate”), *dymъ (“smoke”), perhaps originally meaning “breath, spirit”. Compare Ancient Greek θῡμός (thūmós, “soul, emotion”), occasionally also “thought, mind”.Vaillant: Contracted from hypothetical *douma < *do- + *umъ (“mind”) + *-a. Compare *douměti (“to comprehend”) (whence Russian надоу́мить (nadoúmitʹ, “to advise”)).Machek: From an inversion of root *mewHdʰ-, otherwise yielding Proto-Slavic *myslь (“thought”), Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, fable”). Also thought to be derived fromProto-Germanic*dōmaz. The word is also related to the Russian verbdumat′ (думать) meaning "to think".[1]
The termboyar duma (боярская дума,boyarskaya duma) is used to refer to the councils ofboyars and junior boyars (boyar scions) which advised the prince on state matters during the times ofKievan Rus' and theTsardom of Russia (then tsar).[2] In 1711Peter the Great transferred its functions to theGoverning Senate. Contemporary sources always refer simply to "the boyars" or to "the duma", but never to the "boyar duma". Originally there were ten to twelve boyars[citation needed] and five or sixokolnichies. By 1613 the duma had increased to twenty boyars and eightokolnichies. Lesser nobles, "duma gentlemen" (dumnye dvoriane) and secretaries, were added to the duma and the number ofokolnichies rose in the latter half of the 17th century. In 1676, the number of boyars increased to 50 – by then they constituted only a third of the duma.[3][4]
Under the reign ofCatherine II, reforms to local government led tocity dumas being established in Russian cities.
Under the reign of Alexander II, several reforms were enacted during the 1860s and 1870s. These included the creation of local political bodies known aszemstvos.[5] All owners of houses, tax-paying merchants and workmen are enrolled on lists in a descending order according to their assessed wealth. The total valuation is then divided into three equal parts, representing three groups of electors very unequal in number, each of which elects an equal number of delegates to the municipal duma. The executive is in the hands of an electivemayor and anuprava, which consists of several members elected by the duma. UnderAlexander III, however, by laws promulgated in 1892 and 1894, the municipal dumas were subordinated to the governors in the same way as the zemstvos. In 1894 municipal institutions, with still more restricted powers, were granted to several towns in Siberia, and in 1895 to some in Caucasia.
Under the pressure of theRussian Revolution of 1905, on 6 August 1905,Sergei Witte issued a manifesto about the convocation of the Duma, initially thought to be an advisory organ. In the subsequentOctober Manifesto, Nicholas II pledged to introduce basiccivil liberties, provide for broad participation in the State Duma, and endow the Duma with legislative and oversight powers.
However, Nicholas II was determined to retain his autocratic power. Just before the creation of the Duma in May 1906, the Tsar issued theFundamental Laws. It stated in part that the Tsar'sministers could not be appointed by, and were not responsible to, the Duma, thus denyingresponsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, the Tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished. At this first meeting of the Duma members proposed that political prisoners should be released, trade unions given rights and land reform be introduced. Nicholas II rejected these suggestions and dissolved the assembly in July, 1906.[6]
The imperial State Duma was elected four times: in 1906, twice in 1907, and in 1912.
The State Duma (Russian: Государственная дума,Gosudarstvennaya Duma, common abbreviation: Госдума,Gosduma) in Russia is thelower house of theFederal Assembly of Russia (parliament), theupper house being theFederation Council of Russia. Under Russia's 1993 constitution, there are 450 deputies of the State Duma (Article 95), each elected to a term of four years (Article 96); this was changed to a five-year term in late 2008. In previous elections of 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2003 one half of the deputies were elected by a system ofproportional representation and one half were elected byplurality in single member districts. However, the 2007 Duma elections were carried out in a new format: all 450 deputies were elected by a system of proportional representation. Russian citizens at least 21 years old are eligible to run for the Duma (Article 97).
