The Disturbing Return of the Fifth Column

(Foreign Affairs) How Enemies Within—Real and Imagined—Are Influencing Geopolitics In the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government has carried out a large-scale crackdown against citizens perceived as…

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NEW BOOK: Enemies Within: The Global Politics of Fifth Columns

The invocation of fifth columns in the political arena — whether contrived or based on real fears — has recurred periodically throughout history and is experiencing an upsurge in our…

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Vladimir Putin’s Casus Belli for Invading Ukraine

On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Although the scale of the invasion caught many analysts by surprise, this was not the…

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Revealing schemes: The politics of conspiracy in Russia and the post-Soviet region

(LSE Blogs) What motivates governments and other political actors to promote conspiracy theories? And what impact do these theories have on society? Drawing on a new book covering Russia and…

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Revealing Schemes: The Politics of Conspiracy in Russia and the Post-Soviet Region

(Oxford University Press) Conspiracy theories have come to play an increasingly prominent role in political systems around the world. In Revealing Schemes, Scott Radnitz moves beyond psychological explanations for why people…

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The Real or Imagined Infiltration of Fifth Columns in the Post-Soviet Region

(PONARS Policy Memo) For much of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, and especially since the 2011-12 Bolotnaya demonstrations, the Kremlin has claimed that Russia is threatened by internal enemies. Various actors have been…

Post-Succession Scenarios in Central Asia

The first generation of Central Asian presidents will not be around forever. It is only a matter of time before the region experiences several successions stemming, most likely, from the…

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The Disturbing Return of the Fifth Column

NEW BOOK: Enemies Within: The Global Politics of Fifth Columns

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