PONARS Eurasia 50 - PONARS Eurasia

The Economization, Rationalization, and Normalization of Russian Foreign Policy

Russian foreign policy is increasingly driven by economic factors which rationalize and make it more like that of "normal" countries. Russian foreign and security policy is being "economized" in that…

The New Tribalism and America’s Russia Policy

Since the end of the Cold War, analysts have been grasping for a way to characterize and understand the new security situation–both in Europe and in the rest of the…

Russia’s Financial Meltdown: Causes and Policy Responses

We have to recognize that the Russian financial meltdown is a product of two factors: (A) a policy of accumulating debt to cover huge Russian fiscal deficits, which had been…

The Political Costs of Western Investment in Russian Spin-off Companies

In recent years many American investors have targeted direct investments in Russia toward small start-up companies that are spin-offs from old Soviet enterprises. These investments have been encouraged by several…

The Russian Military Outside Politics: a Historical Perspective

Pavel Grachev, the disgraced and widely despised former Russian defense minister, was fond of asserting that the Russian army is "outside politics." Many Russian and Western observers dismissed Grachev's claim…

The Coming Unemployment Crisis in Russia

There can be little doubt that open unemployment in the Russian Federation is going to rise dramatically over the next few years. Currently, approximately 10% of the Russian population is…

Why Military Dissatisfaction Is Not a Threat to the Russian State

It is a well known fact that the Russian military today is in terrible shape. Funding shortfalls are so severe that basic needs go unmet. Neither officers nor troops get…

The US Second Line of Defense: Preventing Nuclear Smuggling Across Russia’s Borders

Preventing the theft of weapons-usable highly enriched uranium and plutonium in Russia is one of the central security concerns facing the US today. The dissolution of the highly centralized USSR…

Main Problems for Civilian Control of Military Budgets in Russia

To some extent, one can say that in Russia now there is no control over military expenditures, neither by civilians nor the military. For five years the government has followed…

Russia and the WTO: The Work to be Done

In this brief memo, I will discuss Russian prospects for a successful relationship with the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the factors behind those prospects. By strengthening bilateral and multilateral…

The Current Russian Economic Crisis is Neither

The ruble's imminent plummet, amid increasing revenue shortages and foreign debt, has been the focus of international attention toward Russia and elite domestic strife within Russia for the past several…

The Pending Crisis in Russian Civil-Military Relations

A key issue in the study of civil-military relations has been how to create a military sufficiently strong to ensure security from external threats while simultaneously preventing the military from…

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PONARS Eurasia Podcast

PONARS Eurasia