The Moscow Protest: My Experience
Moscow is very cold in the winter. There isn’t a lot that would motivate a large crowd of people to stand outside in the freezing snow and…
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Russian Election Protests: A view from Irkutsk
For several weeks up to the elections for State Duma, flyers and newsletters were handed out throughout Irkutsk by representatives from many different parties, primarily…
Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov’s Speech in Vladivostok
While I wasn’t able to sit down with my family for a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, I was treated to a certain Thanksgiving Day surprise. …
Recurring Themes in the Kyrgyz Revolutions
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan became an independent nation. Its independence, however, was not the result of a struggle for self-governance by…
Youth Crime under Perestroika
In a Komsomolskaya Pravda article dated April 13, 1993, O. Karmaza wrote that “in recent times, we have destroyed everything that could be destroyed. This applies to…
LDPR: Anti-Crisis Platform
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), it is often said, is neither liberal nor particularly democratic. They advocate nationalizing most of Russia’s major industries…
Yabloko: A New Political Course
Most western observers put substantial hope in Yabloko during the 1990s. Yabloko was an early, strongly pro-West, pro-democracy party that also strongly opposed Yeltsin’s administration….
A Just Russia: Manifesto for 2011
A Just Russia was formed in 2006 from a merger between three parties. The first, a nationalist party called “Rodina” (Fatherland) had won 9% of…
The Communist Platform and View of Post-Soviet History
Have you ever wondered how a Communist might write the history of the fall of the Soviet Union? While history is usually written by the…
How to Become a Communist
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) is generally acknowledged as being the successor of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which…
Parnas: The People’s Freedom Party
The People’s Freedom Party, also known as “Parnas,” was founded on September 16, 2010. It is a coalition of four organizations: Russian People’s Democratic Union;…
Nashi: Russian Youth Movement
Nashi is by far Russia’s best-known political youth movement. Founded in 2005 shortly after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the group is against “those who…
Declaration Of The Formation Of The All-Russia People’s Front
Vladimir Putin announced the creation of an “All-Russia People’s Front” at a regional congress of the United Russia party in Volgograd on Friday, May 6,…
An Unfavorable Balance: Government and Human Rights in the Russian Mindset
The following was written as mid-term essay for SRAS’s cultural program in St. Petersburg, “The Russians.” Students were encouraged to draw upon not only the…
United Russia: Election Program, 2011
The following is the pre-election program published by United Russia in preparation for the 2011 Duma elections. While most political parties use the term “Political…
The Soviet Union in Angola: Soviet and African Perspectives on the Failed Socialist Transformation
Africa’s drive for independence came to a head by the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War. It was seen by the Soviet Union…
Talent Development and Economic Growth in Russia
2007 is an exciting time to be involved in Russian business. The ruble has become increasingly more valuable and stable, and the government has emphasized…
Environmental Policy and Politics of Lake Baikal: A review of physical, psychological, and political contexts
Lake Baikal in Siberia has a rich biological and cultural history. It is highly valued for its aesthetic qualities and rich biological diversity. In addition,…
Ordinary Men? Collaboration and Resistance in Occupied Mogilevskaya Oblast’
The subject of collaboration and resistance in occupied Europe is one of the most controversial issues related to the history of the Second World War….
The Pupil of the People: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s Peasant Schools at Yasnaya Polyana
Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is best known as the author of some of the world’s most famous literature, specifically the epic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy…