PONARS Eurasia
  • About
    • Contact
    • Membership
      • About Membership
  • Policy Memos
    • List of Policy Memos
  • Podcast
  • Online Academy
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Commentary
Contacts
Address 1957 E St NW, Washington, DC 20052 adminponars@gwu.edu 202.994.5915
en English
en Englishnl Dutchfr Frenchde Germanhi Hindiru Russianuk Ukrainian
NEWSLETTER
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Podcast
PONARS Eurasia
PONARS Eurasia
  • About
    • Contact
    • Membership
      • About Membership
  • Policy Memos
    • List of Policy Memos
  • Podcast
  • Online Academy
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Commentary
DIGITAL RESOURCES
digital resources

Bookstore 📚

Knowledge Hub

Course Syllabi

Point & Counterpoint

Policy Perspectives

RECOMMENDED
  • The Yerevan Protests in 2021: a Sociological Eye

    View
  • Arnold: There’s nothing definite—that they’re going to be punished—but there’s always the chance

    View
  • Petrov: Russia would denounce the EU sanctions as a Western attack on its “glory”

    View
  • New Book by Kathryn Stoner Examines the ‘Paradox’ of Russian Power

    View
  • West’s Renewed Focus on Solidarity and Coordination Perturbs Kremlin

    View
RSS PONARS Eurasia Podcast
  • The Communist Party of the Russian Federation: More Than Just Systemic Opposition? [Lipman Series 2021] March 5, 2021
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Felix Light and Nikolay Petrov about the contemporary Communist Party of the Russian Federation, including the divisions between its leadership and membership, its attitude toward Alexei Navalny, and why it might be more than just "systemic" opposition after all.
  • Internet Resources: Civic Communication and State Surveillance [Lipman Series 2021] February 16, 2021
    In this week's PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Andrei Soldatov and Tanya Lokot about the role of the internet in contemporary Russian politics, including both as a tool of the Russian opposition and as an instrument of the increasingly repressive Russian regime.
  • The Rise of Alexei Navalny's Political Stature and Mass Protest in Russia [Lipman Series 2021] February 1, 2021
    In the first PONARS Eurasia Podcast of 2021, Maria Lipman chats with Greg Yudin about the current protests taking place in Russia, and what Alexei Navalny's growing popular support means for the Putin regime.
  • Russian Social Policy in the COVID-19 Era [Lipman Series 2020] December 21, 2020
    In 2020’s final episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Sarah Wilson Sokhey and Ella Paneyakh to discuss Russian social policy in the COVID-19 era, and public perception of Russia’s overall pandemic response.
  • Conscious Parenting Practices in Contemporary Russia [Lipman Series 2020] December 10, 2020
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Julia Yuzbasheva and Maria Danilova to learn more about the proliferation of "conscious parenting" practices in contemporary Russian society.
  • The Transformation of Belarussian Society [Lipman Series 2020] November 11, 2020
    In this episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Masha Lipman chats with Grigory Ioffe about the long-term and short-term factors that led up to the current protests in Belarus, and the ongoing transformation of Belarussian society.
  • Russian Lawmakers Adjust National Legislation to the Revised Constitutional Framework [Lipman Series 2020] October 26, 2020
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Ben Noble and Nikolay Petrov about ongoing changes to Russia’s national legislation based on the recently revised constitutional framework, and what these changes portend for the 2021 Duma election.
  • Russia's Regional Elections [Lipman Series 2020] September 25, 2020
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Graeme Robertson and Konstantin Gaaze about Russia’s September 13 regional elections and whether or not the Kremlin should be worried about upcoming Duma elections.
  • Understanding the Protests in Belarus [Lipman Series 2020] September 11, 2020
    In this week's PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Natalya Chernyshova (University of Winchester) and Nikolay Petrov (Chatham House) about the ongoing protests in Belarus, and what they mean for the future of the current regime.
  • Popular Opinion on the Khabarovsk Protests [Lipman Series 2020] August 14, 2020
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Denis Volkov (Levada Center) to learn more about public perceptions around current events in Khabarovsk, the "reset" of Putin's term limits, and the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the transcript here.
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

The Politics of Foreign Intrigue

  • October 23, 2012
  • Scott Radnitz

The South Caucasus has inherited deeply ingrained historical narratives of being a pawn in games of geopolitical intrigue, from the Persian-Russian wars of the early 19th century, to the region’s forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1921, to the Russia-Georgia War of 2008. In today’s Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, issues of national identity, territorial control, and geopolitical alignment remain unresolved while contemporary great powers still seek to advance their interests in the region. It is therefore unsurprising that leaders frequently invoke hostile foreign powers as an explanation for national and personal insecurities.

It is difficult to know whether the surrounding great powers in fact actively meddle in nearby smaller states in games of international intrigue. But we do know that the idea of external meddling in these states is a major theme in domestic politics and that it follows a common script: Side A accuses side B of being in league with a malevolent outside power, while side B accuses side A of contriving threats and staging provocations to mask its own failings. The result is a mainstream politics of conspiracy, in which people are encouraged to believe that the adversaries of their favored leader are intent on selling out the country’s interests. This dynamic complicates managing foreign relations by infusing ordinary decisions with the weight of national survival, enables politicians to evade accountability for bad behavior, and, by delegitimizing political rivals, forecloses debate about serious issues. […]

More (PDF)

Memo #:
243
Series:
2
PDF:
pepm_243_Radnitz_Sept2012.pdf
Scott Radnitz
Scott Radnitz
Website | + posts
Associate Professor, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Director of the Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies
Affiliation

University of Washington
Links

University of Washington (Bio)
Expertise

Politics, Social Mobilization, Authoritarianism, Identity, State Building, Central Asia, Caucasus.
  • Scott Radnitz
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/scott-radnitz/
    Competing Narratives and Violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan
  • Scott Radnitz
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/scott-radnitz/
    Yawning through the Arab Spring: Resilient Regimes in Central Asia and the Caucasus
  • Scott Radnitz
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/scott-radnitz/
    In Georgia, Two Machines Are Better Than One
  • Scott Radnitz
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/scott-radnitz/
    Применение теории внешних заговоров в качестве инструмента внутриполитической жизни на Кавказе
Related Topics
  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Georgia
  • Radnitz
  • Russia
  • South Caucasus
Previous Article
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

Coercion in Action: Deterrence and Compellence in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

  • October 23, 2012
  • Sergey Minasyan
View
Next Article
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

Azerbaijan-Iran Relations: Quo Vadis, Baku?

  • October 23, 2012
  • Anar Valiyev
View
You May Also Like
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

The Belarus Protests and Russia: Lessons for “Big Brother”

  • Natalya Chernyshova
  • March 1, 2021
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

Central Asian Responses to COVID-19: Regime Legitimacy and [De]Securitization of the Health Crisis

  • Mariya Omelicheva and Lawrence P. Markowitz
  • March 1, 2021
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

COVID-19 in Russia: What Russians Expected, What They Got, and What They Think About It

  • Sarah Wilson Sokhey
  • February 22, 2021
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

The Russian Parliament and the Pandemic: A State of Emergency, Post-constitutional Changes, Retaliatory Laws

  • Ekaterina Schulmann
  • February 16, 2021
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

Pasta and Sugar, Not Navalny, Are Putin’s Main Worries

  • Evgeny Finkel, Janetta Azarieva and Yitzhak Brudny
  • February 9, 2021
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

The Russian Military Police, from Syria to Karabakh

  • Emmanuel Dreyfus
  • February 8, 2021
The Kremlin’s COVID-19 Charm Offensive
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

“From Russia With Love”: The Kremlin’s COVID-19 Charm Offensive

  • Alexandra Yatsyk
  • February 2, 2021
COVID-19 Implications for Azerbaijan: Momentum Immobilized by a Perfect Storm
View
  • Policy Memos | Аналитика

COVID-19 Implications for Azerbaijan: Momentum Immobilized by a Perfect Storm

  • Anar Valiyev
  • January 29, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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


Warning: call_user_func_array() expects parameter 1 to be a valid callback, class 'ZeroSpam\Modules\Comments\Comments' does not have a method 'enqueue_davidwalsh' in /home/ponarseu/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php on line 287

PONARS Eurasia
  • About
  • Membership
  • Policy Memos
  • Recommended
  • Events

Permissions & Citation Guidelines

Input your search keywords and press Enter.