PONARS Eurasia
  • About
    • Contact
    • Membership
      • All Members
      • Core Members
      • Collegium Members
      • Associate Members
      • About Membership
    • Ukraine Experts
    • Executive Committee
  • Policy Memos
    • List of Policy Memos
    • Submissions
  • Podcasts
  • Online Academy
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Recommended
  • Ukraine Experts
Contacts

Address
1957 E St NW,
Washington, DC 20052

adminponars@gwu.edu
202.994.5915

NEWSLETTER
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Podcast
PONARS Eurasia
PONARS Eurasia
  • About
    • Contact
    • Membership
      • All Members
      • Core Members
      • Collegium Members
      • Associate Members
      • About Membership
    • Ukraine Experts
    • Executive Committee
  • Policy Memos
    • List of Policy Memos
    • Submissions
  • Podcasts
  • Online Academy
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Recommended
  • Ukraine Experts
DIGITAL RESOURCES
digital resources

Bookstore 📚

Knowledge Hub

Course Syllabi

Point & Counterpoint

Policy Perspectives

RECOMMENDED
  • The Determinants of Assistance to Ukrainian and Syrian Refugees | New Voices on Eurasia with Volha Charnysh (Feb. 16)

    View
  • Conflicts in the North Caucasus Since 1991 | PONARS Eurasia Online Academy

    View
  • Will Ukraine Wind Up Making Territorial Concessions to Russia? Foreign Affairs Asks the Experts

    View
  • Pro-Kremlin Propaganda’s Failure in Ukraine | New Voices on Eurasia with Aaron Erlich (Jan. 19)

    View
  • Kyiv-Washington Relations in Times of Colossal War: The Ultimate Test of a Strategic Partnership

    View
RSS PONARS Eurasia Podcast
  • The Putin-Xi Summit: What's New In Their Joint Communique ? February 23, 2022
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman speaks with Russian China experts Vita Spivak and Alexander Gabuev about the February meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and what it may tell us about where the Russian-Chinese relationship is headed.
  • Exploring the Russian Courts' Ruling to Liquidate the Memorial Society January 28, 2022
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with scholars Kelly Smith and Benjamin Nathans about the history, achievements, and impending shutdown of the Memorial Society, Russia's oldest and most venerable civic organization, and what its imminent liquidation portends for the Russian civil society.
  • Russia's 2021 census and the Kremlin's nationalities policy [Lipman Series 2021] December 9, 2021
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with social scientist Andrey Shcherbak about the quality of the data collected in the recent population census and the goals of Vladimir Putin's government's nationalities policy
  • Active citizens of any kind are under threat [Lipman Series 2021] November 5, 2021
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Alexander Verkhovsky about the Kremlin's ever expanding toolkit against political and civic activists, journalists, and other dissidents.
  • Russia's Legislative Elections followup [Lipman Series 2021] October 4, 2021
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Tanya Lokot and Nikolay Petrov about the results of Russia’s legislative elections and about what comes next.
  • Why Is the Kremlin Nervous? [Lipman Series 2021] September 14, 2021
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Ben Noble and Nikolay Petrov about Russia’s September 17-19 legislative elections, repressive measures against electoral challengers, and whether to expect anything other than preordained results.
  • Vaccine Hesitancy in Russia, France, and the United States [Lipman Series 2021] August 31, 2021
    In this week's PONARS Eurasia Podcast episode, Maria Lipman chats with Denis Volkov, Naira Davlashyan, and Peter Slevin about why COVID-19 vaccination rates are still so low across the globe, comparing vaccine hesitant constituencies across Russia, France, and the United States.  
  • Is Russia Becoming More Soviet? [Lipman Series 2021] July 26, 2021
      In a new PONARS Eurasia Podcast episode, Maria Lipman chats with Maxim Trudolyubov about the current tightening of the Russian political sphere, asking whether or not it’s helpful to draw comparisons to the late Soviet period.
  • The Evolution of Russia's Political Regime [Lipman Series 2021] June 21, 2021
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Grigory Golosov and Henry Hale about the evolution of Russia's political regime, and what to expect in the lead-up to September's Duma elections.
  • Volodymyr Zelensky: Year Two [Lipman Series 2021] May 24, 2021
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Sergiy Kudelia and Georgiy Kasianov about Ukrainian President Zelensky's second year in office, and how he has handled the political turbulence of the past year.
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

PONARS Experts: Why Washington must try harder to understand the Kremlin

  • June 12, 2014
  • PONARS Eurasia

(The Guardian) All of the problems stem from a poorly chosen verb. In May 2012, Congress approved a budget for the fiscal year ending 30 September, 2013. Since 1983, the US State Department budget has included an article on the study of Eastern European and Post-Soviet states. In 2012, only one word was changed: instead of the verb “shall” appeared the verb “may.” Since then, the State Department has not been legally required to finance research of the post-Soviet space. […]

“The meaning of Title VIII cannot be emphasised enough. It was something that attracted students and graduates to Russian studies. You always knew that was a source of funding for your research,” notes Sam Charap, senior fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Russia specialists have agitated against the dissolution of the programme; their efforts include a letter addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry written by several retired ambassadors. However, the fall 2013 State Department leadership was uncompromising – it decided not to allocate money to the study of a country that sunk the “reset” and harbours Edward Snowden. […]

The collapse of the Soviet Union, which almost no American sovietologists predicted, dealt a powerful blow to the discipline, recollects Andrew Kuchins, Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The Vice President of the Carnegie Endowment notes: “In 1991, the labour market for Russia specialists imploded in both the government and research structures. We closed many research programmes on Russia in the United States, cancelled classes in Russian language, reduced budgets for everything related to the Post-Soviet space.” […]

America’s Russian Studies community that holds policy influence can be divided into five segments with respect to employment: academics, think tank employees, business analysts, White House, Pentagon, and State Department staff, and members of the intelligence community. The careers of many Russianists passes through the ‘revolving door’: somebody can begin their career as a bureaucrat, then join a think tank, then return again to state service – often, to a higher-ranking position, or different division. Changes in position are often linked with the political leanings of the expert. “When Democrats are in power, think tanks attract Republicans from the previous administration, and vice versa,” notes Henry Hale, professor at the Elliot School of International Relations at George Washington University. Usually, migrations take place between think tanks, state service, and business. Academics and intelligence experts change positions more rarely. […]

Many problems face Russia scholars in all work sectors. Experts polled by Vlast most frequently named funding cuts as the primary problem of the discipline. Following the dissolution of Titles VIII and VI, the government has continued to reduce grants for projects on Russia. The site grants.gov lists only eight state contracts relating to Russia for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2014. Private endowments like the McArthur Foundation or Carnegie Corporation of New York have funded independent programmes like the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia (PONARS Eurasia) – a network that unites a number of academics, whose research on Russia and the Post-Soviet space can be use in the formulation of policy. […]

Another problem has appeared along with a decreasing number of positions for Russia specialists: a generation gap. “It’s hard to name experts who aren’t old like me,” sighs Graham. “You can count representatives of the youth younger than 40 or 50 on your fingers.” As for rising stars, you can count them on only one hand. Vlast’s sources in government and in nongovernmental research centres name three names: Sam Charap at IISS, Jeffrey Mankoff, Kuchins’ deputy at CSIS, and Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute. These three have the best chances of becoming key players for Russia and the Post-Soviet space in future [US] administrations. Among scholars at universities, though with political links, our sources named professor Keith Darden at the American University in Washington (one of the leading experts in the United States on modern Ukraine) as well as professor Cory Welt at the Elliot School. […]

Read the full article "Why Washington must try to harder to understand the Kremlin" by Alexander Gabuyev © The Guardian

 

Related Topics
  • Russia
  • United States
Previous Article
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

Опасные иммигранты или искаженные восприятия? Взаимосвязь между иммиграцией и преступностью в России

  • June 11, 2014
  • Serghei Golunov
View
Next Article
  • In the News | Hовости

Путін рахується тільки з силою

  • June 12, 2014
  • Olexiy Haran
View
You May Also Like
View
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

The Determinants of Assistance to Ukrainian and Syrian Refugees | New Voices on Eurasia with Volha Charnysh (Feb. 16)

  • PONARS Eurasia
  • January 30, 2023
View
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

Conflicts in the North Caucasus Since 1991 | PONARS Eurasia Online Academy

  • PONARS Eurasia
  • January 27, 2023
View
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

Will Ukraine Wind Up Making Territorial Concessions to Russia? Foreign Affairs Asks the Experts

  • PONARS Eurasia
  • January 24, 2023
View
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

Pro-Kremlin Propaganda’s Failure in Ukraine | New Voices on Eurasia with Aaron Erlich (Jan. 19)

  • PONARS Eurasia
  • January 17, 2023
View
  • Commentary | Комментарии
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

Kyiv-Washington Relations in Times of Colossal War: The Ultimate Test of a Strategic Partnership

  • Volodymyr Dubovyk
  • January 11, 2023
View
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens students daily and forces teachers to improvise

  • Kristina Hook
  • January 11, 2023
View
  • Commentary | Комментарии
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

Prevailing Soviet Legacies

  • Irina Busygina and Mikhail Filippov
  • December 27, 2022
View
  • Commentary | Комментарии
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

In Russia’s Nuclear Messaging to West and Ukraine, Putin Plays Both Bad and Good Cop

  • Simon Saradzhyan
  • December 23, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

PONARS Eurasia
  • About
  • Membership
  • Policy Memos
  • Recommended
  • Events
Powered by narva.io

Permissions & Citation Guidelines

Input your search keywords and press Enter.