Russian Political Attitudes and Political Parties
The fact that the Russian Duma is not an institution designed to encourage small political parties will come as a surprise to no one, with the possible exception of the…
Russia and the Rest: Economic Reform and Western Assistance
What can we learn about Russia by comparing it to the other post-Communist countries? In particular, what can we learn about the wisdom of applying the brand of economic reform promoted by…
Explaining Russia’s Dissention on Kosovo
Russia's disagreement with the West on the recent crisis in Kosovo and its opposition to NATO's decision to use military force against Serbia were particularly bitter. In trying to explain…
The Eve of Electoral Threshold: New Challenges in Russian Politics
The ongoing cycle of Russia's national elections–parliamentary elections scheduled for December 19, 1999, and presidential elections, which should be held July 9, 2000 according to the constitution- represent a threshold…
Russia Since August 1998: A Political-Economic Balance Sheet
The most dire predictions about the Russian economy after the August 1998 financial crisis have not come true. Devaluation, for example, has led to import substitution and created growth in some sectors…
Russia, Kosovo, and Security Cooperation
Increasingly, discussion of policy options to salvage the disastrous US policy on Kosovo has turned to the prospect of an intervention mission with ground forces. The primary American objection to…
Critical Political Mass: Russia’s Emerging Party System
It has become common wisdom that Russia has nothing we can call a party system. No fewer than 141 "electoral associations" registered with the Ministry of Justice by December 1998,…
Dilemmas and Tradeoffs in Russian Exchange Rate Policy
Russia is at a crossroads in dealing with one of its greatest dilemmas: how to set the ruble's exchange rate. The August 1998 financial crisis led to a very sharp and…
The Bright Side of Russia’s Regionalization
Regionalization is a basic characteristic of post-Communist Russia–a contradictory process that both poses challenges to and provides for a federative state. Russia's regionalization does have negative consequences: further disintegration of the single economic,…
Revenge of the Administrative System: The Primakov-Luzhkov Silver Lining
At first glance, the probable political victory of the Primakov-Luzhkov duo in the wake of the failure of liberal reforms in Russia looks like a regressive return to the bureaucratic…
The Security of Russia’s Nuclear Arsenal: The Human Factor
Assertions by the Russian military that all of their nuclear weapons are secure against theft and that nuclear units within the military are somehow insulated from the problems plaguing the Russian military…
Russia, Serbia and the West Redux
In 1877-1878, Russia fought a war against Turkey to help its Slav allies, especially Serbia, throw off the yoke of the Ottoman empire. Russia went to war at a time when…