2020 2 - PONARS Eurasia

Securitizing the Environment: How Poor Coordination, Politicization, and Potentially Violent Responses Illustrate Russia’s Defense-Ecology Ties

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) At the end of September, local news outlets began reporting on the increasing number of dead sea creatures washing up on Khalaktyrsky beach in the Far Eastern…

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Russia’s Hardest Working Oligarch Takes Talents to Africa

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) In September 2019, Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev sat down for an interview with the Russian news outlet RBC and announced the launch of the International Agency…

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A Very Belarusian Affair: What Sets the Current Anti-Lukashenka Protests Apart?

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Unprecedented mass protests in Belarus against the rigged presidential elections on August 9 continue into their sixth week with no signs of abating. They are massive,…

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Where’s Wagner? The All-New Exploits of Russia’s “Private” Military Company

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Just when you think you know where Russia’s Wagner Group “private” military company (PMC) is deployed, it pops up somewhere else. In the past year, its…

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Russia’s Crumbling Power Vertical: Decreasing Disposable Income Drives Discontentment

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Accumulating evidence points at prospects of growing destabilization at the regional level in Russia. In 2019, five consecutive years of economic stagnation ignited a wave of…

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October 2020 Parliamentary Elections: Georgia at the Crossroads

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Georgian parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 31, 2020. The convention in Tbilisi is that no political party has stayed in power beyond two consecutive terms, and…

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Soviet Legacy as Soft Power: Chinese Reception of Russian Political and Cultural Influence

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Theories of soft power inspired by political scientist Joseph Nye often rely on two problematic assumptions: that soft power accrues only to countries with liberal systems,…

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Divide and Co-Opt: Government-Opposition Relations in Azerbaijan in the Wake of COVID-19

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Around the time of the February 2020 snap parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, the government-opposition relationship took a surprising turn. In the run-up to the election, the…

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The Baltic States and Energy Security: How Else Can the EU Foster Their Energy Resilience in the Face of Russian Pressure?

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) In recent times, Baltic State policies toward Russia have displayed a relatively unified front. This became abundantly clear in the aftermath of major events such as…

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Corruption, No Confidence, Poor Communication: How Governors Behaving Badly Will Impact Russia’s Regional Elections

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Russia’s regional administrations tend to be overlooked as a toothless part of the system, lacking any real responsibility or power. While Moscow has certainly curbed governors’…

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PONARS Eurasia Podcast

2020

Securitizing the Environment: How Poor Coordination, Politicization, and Potentially Violent Responses Illustrate Russia’s Defense-Ecology Ties

Russia’s Hardest Working Oligarch Takes Talents to Africa

A Very Belarusian Affair: What Sets the Current Anti-Lukashenka Protests Apart?

Where’s Wagner? The All-New Exploits of Russia’s “Private” Military Company

Russia’s Crumbling Power Vertical: Decreasing Disposable Income Drives Discontentment

October 2020 Parliamentary Elections: Georgia at the Crossroads

Soviet Legacy as Soft Power: Chinese Reception of Russian Political and Cultural Influence

Divide and Co-Opt: Government-Opposition Relations in Azerbaijan in the Wake of COVID-19

The Baltic States and Energy Security: How Else Can the EU Foster Their Energy Resilience in the Face of Russian Pressure?

Corruption, No Confidence, Poor Communication: How Governors Behaving Badly Will Impact Russia’s Regional Elections