Europe’s Disillusionment with Russia
June 2013 marked the 10th anniversary of a crucial EU-Russia agreement. At the 2003 EU-Russia summit in St. Petersburg, both parties agreed to gradually proceed toward the establishment of “common…
The Unintended Consequences of Russia’s Gubernatorial Elections
The revival of Russia’s gubernatorial elections following the mass protests of 2011-2012 may not have promoted democratization, but neither has it proved trouble-free for the Kremlin. In light of the…
Spinning the Spillover: Why NATO Withdrawal from Afghanistan Does Not Pose a Threat to Central Asia
As the war in Afghanistan winds down, the United States is at a turning point in fashioning policy toward Central Asia. If the 10 years beginning in 1991 focused broadly…
Food Security in Central Asia: A Public Policy Challenge
Central Asian public policies often tend to assert that an increase of GDP mechanically ensures better food security. This is a problematic assumption, however, as food security mainly affects pauperized…
Quasi-Feudalism in Higher Education?: Rectors and Politics in Russia
The rectors of higher education institutions in Russia hold important academic positions, ones that tend to come with social, financial, and political benefits. Due to the scale of many Russian…
States of Protest in Central Asia
The nature of violent protest in Central Asia exhibits variation both in form and state response. In Kazakhstan, violent protest is rare and economically oriented, and it elicits accommodationist state…
Assigning Blame After Natural Disasters in Russia
Russia has experienced a number of natural disasters in recent years causing hundreds of deaths and a massive loss of homes and property. The deadly and dramatic nature of disasters…
Political Protest and Regime-Opposition Dynamics in Russia
Focus groups and opinion polls in Russia over the past three years have revealed substantial discontent with Russia’s political system—discontent that was instrumental in the outbreak of mass protests in…
New Media, Political Information, and Opposition Views in Russia: A Cautionary Note Based on Survey Evidence
Access to the internet has grown at an exponential rate in Russia during the last four years, and many commentators have ascribed a mobilizing role to the new media in…
Revisiting Islamism: A Factor for Democratization in Central Asia?
This memo hopes to revisit the old Islamism/democratization paradigm in Central Asia and to provide some new avenues for debate. It sets out from three hypotheses: Generational changes underway in…
Russia and the Geopolitics of Natural Gas: Leveraging or Succumbing to Revolution?
The changing natural gas landscape—driven by the rise of liquid natural gas (LNG) projects, unconventional boom in North America, protracted global economic slowdown, post-Fukushima recalibration in the nuclear sector, and…
How Much Would It Hurt? Exploring Russia’s Vulnerability to a Drop in Energy Prices
Russia’s economy is obviously energy-reliant, but how vulnerable does that make it in practical terms? What would happen if global energy prices dropped significantly? In the shadow of the shale…