Memory Wars in the Post-Soviet Space
Over the past year, the memory wars of the post-Soviet space have intensified. Nation-building in the region, like elsewhere, has long involved the creation of local historical narratives and the…
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Russia
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Convergence in Post-Soviet Political Systems?: A Comparative Analysis of Russian, Kazakh, and Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections
Next year will mark twenty years since the first more or less free and fair elections were held in the USSR in March 1989. Since then, numerous elections have been…
Protecting ‘Our’ History: Politics, Memory, and the Russian State
On May 14, 2009, Russian president Dmitri Medvedev signed Decree No. 549, “On the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation for Countering Attempts to Falsify History to the…
The Evolution of Georgian-Russian Sterotypes
The intensely emotional rhetoric and overreactions of Russians and Georgians in their recent war has puzzled outside observers. It is not that the belligerents lack rationality. Humans see the world through cultural…
The Circassian Dimension of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics
In 2014, the popular Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi will host the Winter Olympics, signifying Russia’s increasingly high international profile. The honor of hosting the Olympics is a…
Alternative Approaches to Black Sea Regional Security: A Ukrainian Perspective
In August 2008, the Russian Federation demonstrated the will to exercise the concept of a “multipolar world” through military action. Most regional powers are unlikely to accept this concept, which…
Can Russia Win the Ideological Battle in Georgia?
Georgia has been one of the most vocally independent-minded countries among the Soviet Union’s successor states. As Georgia’s ambitions to draw closer to Europe and the transatlantic community have grown,…
Medvedev and the Military: Reshuffling as a Preamble for Reform?
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insists that the somewhat softer style of his foreign and security policy makes no difference in their substance. Key policy guidelines continue to support the goals…
Will Sevastopol Survive? The Triangular Politics of Russia’s Naval Base in Crimea
The August 2008 Russian-Georgian conflict has drawn renewed political attention to other areas of the former Soviet Union where Russia may assert territorial claims. Chief among these has been Crimea,…
The Perennial Partnership: The Global Economic Crisis and Russian-Kazakh Relations
Making up nearly 90 percent of the total area of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russia and Kazakhstan are also two of the ten largest states in the world.…